A data breach at the app Senior Dating has exposed the personal information of more than 700,000 users, including their precise locations.
The breach, which happened on Nov. 23, compromised 765,517 accounts and their bios, birth dates, drinking habits, education levels, email addresses, genders, geographic locations, occupations, profile photos, relationship statuses, smoking habits and social media profiles, data breach trackers Have I Been Pwned said Monday.
Senior Dating shut down its site on Dec. 4 and and emailed a letter to users acknowledging the breach after the owner, Marcin Butanowicz, was contacted by journalist Ryan Fae.
Have I Been Pwned said the breach stems from an exposure in Firebase, a Google-backed web development platform.
Lesbian dating website Ladies.com, which had the same owner and shut down at the same time, also suffered a data breach that exposed 118,809 users because of the same Firebase vulnerability, Have I Been Pwned said.
What to do after a data breach
- Follow the letter: Companies should send out a letter if you are a victim of a data breach. Read it carefully to get more details about what data was exposed and the steps the company recommends you take.
- Freeze your credit: Contact each of the three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and get your credit frozen so a criminal can’t open cards or other lines in your name.
- Credit monitoring: Companies often will offer free credit monitoring or other services after a data breach.
- Reset passwords: Change your passwords and use different ones for services.
- Use a password manager: LastPass and services built into web browsers such as Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge can create and store strong passwords for you.
- Opt out of data collection: If you have the right in your state, you can email services you use to request they don’t collect your data for use by third parties.
- Request to have your data deleted: For services you don’t use, ask to have your data deleted. California and other states have written this into law.