Millions of users of the dating site MeetMindful got some unpleasant news on Sunday. ZDNet reported that the hacker group ShinyHunters, the same group that leaked millions of them user records for the company using the Camp Auschwitz shirts, dumped what appears to be data from the dating site’s user database. The leak apparently contains the sensitive information of more than 2.28 million of the registered users of the site.
According to ZDNet, the 1.2 gigabyte file was shared as a free download “on a publicly accessible hacking forum known for dealing in hacked databases.. “ It featured a wealth of sensitive and identifiable users information, including real names, email addresses, city, state and zip code information, dates of birth, IP addresses, Facebook user IDs, and Facebook authentication tokens, among others. However, messages were not displayed.
The outlet, which contained screenshots of the file posted on the hacker forum, as well as a small sample of the exposed data, emphasizes that not all leaked accounts contain the user’s complete data. Nonetheless, it stated that the leaked information could be used to connect people‘dating profiles for their real identities. The hacking forum where the data was posted has been viewed over 1,500 times. It is still available for download at the outlet.
ZDNet said it was made aware of the leak earlier this week by a security researcher, who did not mention it. It added that it had reached out to MeetMindful on Thursday to request a comment on the matter, but had not received a response for days.
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Gizmodo has also reached out to MeetMindful to ask about the reported hack. We will make sure to update this blog if we hear back.
According to his Crunchbase profile, MeetMindful is a dating platform for “people who love health, wellness and mindfulness”. It was founded in 2013, is based in Denver, Colorado, and is still operating.
However, this is where things start to get a bit strange. The places mention social media channels have been inactive for months, which is interesting considering that major dating apps are to grow during the pandemic. I mean, don’t they want to encourage their users to date (safely)? From the outside, the service seems like a dead zone. Who knows, it’s all the rage on the site itself.
It is unclear whether MeetMindful notified its users of the incident. If true, users should know so they can keep an eye out for suspicious activity and change logins and passwords if necessary. In short: get started.
[ZDNet]