A recent study conducted by researchers at KU Leuven University in Belgium has unveiled a serious privacy flaw in several popular dating apps.
These apps, including Bumble, Hinge, Happn, Grindr, Badoo, and Hily, were found to be vulnerable to a technique called trilateration, which can be used to pinpoint a user’s location with surprising accuracy.
Trilateration is a method typically used in GPS systems to determine a device’s position based on its distance from multiple known points.
The researchers discovered that these dating apps inadvertently leaked location information through their distance filters, allowing malicious individuals to exploit this data to track users.
Grindr was identified as the most susceptible app, with researchers able to pinpoint a user’s location within a square area of just 111 meters by 111 meters. Other apps, such as Happn, Hinge, Bumble, Badoo, and Hily, also exhibited varying degrees of vulnerability to this location tracking method.
The implications of this privacy breach are alarming. Stalkers and other malicious individuals could potentially use this information to physically locate and track their targets.
The researchers emphasize that even seemingly minor location data can be exploited to narrow down a person’s whereabouts with disturbing precision.
In response to these findings, some of the affected apps have claimed to have addressed the issue. Bumble, for example, stated that it had resolved similar problems in the past. However, the extent to which these measures effectively protect user privacy remains unclear.
