SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – At least 100,000 Australian Grindr and Blendr app-users’ accounts were hacked this month. Grindr (for gay men) and Blendr (the equivalent app for straight people) are among the most popular social applications for smart phones worldwide.
Grindr has over three-million worldwide users. The hacking allows naked pictures of users to be broadcast over the internet, or spread through Twitter if a linked account is also available via the phone. The hacking has caused a security crisis for the developer, and has left its users vulnerable because of the vast amounts of private information that is traded through the app.
The hacker discovered a way to log in under another user name, and impersonate that user, including chatting and sending photos.
The founder of the apps, Joel Simkhai, conceded both Grindr and Blendr are vulnerable and that he was rushing to release a patch to address the issues. Simkhai said he had originally been waiting until new architecture was built “within weeks,” but was now releasing an update to both apps “over the next few days.”
It is believed the hacker changed the profile pictures of numerous Sydney Grindr users to ones containing
explicit images.