Unauthorized access and data disclosure of 13,000 user photographs and personal IDs from the feminine-focused social platform, Tea.
Following a data breach that exposed tens of thousands of images from its legacy storage, the Tea app has taken several key steps to protect users' privacy and secure its platform.
The company has engaged external cybersecurity professionals to assist in investigating the breach and strengthening system defenses. According to statements from Tea, they have fixed the vulnerabilities that led to the leak and put in enhanced safeguards to prevent future incidents.
One of the measures taken by Tea is the removal of the ID verification requirement. Since 2023, the app no longer requires photo ID uploads to reduce the amount of sensitive data held. The breach only involved data collected prior to February 2024; more recent data is reportedly secure.
Tea has also restricted the affected data to legacy storage. They have publically confirmed the breach and outlined the scope of exposed data, showing a commitment to transparency with its users.
However, the breach has raised concerns over past data handling, as legacy data contradicting the company's previous privacy policy was still retained and leaked. Tea is under pressure to further strengthen data deletion practices and privacy protections moving forward.
Signing up for Tea requires users to take selfies, which are deleted after review. Despite these measures, the breach has led to discussions about creating a men-only version of the app as payback for women's use of it. However, such attempts have faced backlash, with one app, Teaborn, being removed from the App Store after its creator called users out for posting revenge porn.
The Tea app is a virtual whisper network for women, a place for women to safely talk about men. The company claims to donate 10% of its profits to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which has confirmed that the company is a donor.
Recently, the Tea app became the top free app in the Apple App Store and claimed to have gained nearly a million new signups. In the aftermath of the data breach, the app announced that new signups have surpassed 2 million in the past few days.
Amidst these developments, many users are still on the app's waitlist, and some have started expressing concerns about their data privacy in the wake of the hacking news on the app's Instagram page. The company's commitment to addressing these concerns and ensuring the security of its platform will be crucial in maintaining user trust and continuing its growth.
- Recognizing the need for enhanced cybersecurity measures, Tea has hired external professionals to investigate the breach and reinforce system defenses.
- As a proactive step, Tea has removed the ID verification requirement and restricted affected data to legacy storage, aiming to prevent future data leaks and safeguard user privacy.
- In the midst of the crime-and-justice discussions surrounding the data breach, Tea's commitment to transparency and general-news reporting about its responses will play a significant role in regaining the trust of its social-media users and technology community.
