Skip to main content

Online dating giant AdultFriendFinder hacked, highly personal info nabbed

Hacker
hamburg_berlin/Shutterstock
Personal details belonging to millions of members of online dating site AdultFriendFinder have been exposed in a hack, the company has confirmed. The service, which launched in the U.S. in 1996, describes itself as “one of the world’s largest sex hookup, dating, chat, sexy matches and adult friends sites in the world,” boasting over 64 million members globally.

The security breach, revealed on Thursday by the UK’s Channel 4 News, appears to have involved the theft of highly personal information belonging to at least four million users of the site.

Reporter Geoff White viewed the stolen data on websites frequented by hackers, noting that it’s not only usernames and email addresses that have been exposed – information about users’ sexual orientation and whether they’re interested in cheating on their partner was also visible, he said.

According to White, even former users of the site may have had their details nabbed in the hack, as the Sunnyvale, California company apparently retains personal data even after an account has been deleted. Following the breach, a number of AdultFriendFinder members – both current and former – have already been targeted with virus-laden emails, the report said.

The dating site confirmed the security breach on Thursday, saying in a release, “FriendFinder Networks Inc. has only just been made aware of this potential issue and understands and fully appreciates the seriousness of the issue.”

It said it’d already started working with law enforcement and had launched a “comprehensive” investigation with a leading third-party forensics expert, adding that it was too early to determine the full scope of the incident.

“We cannot speculate further about this issue, but rest assured, we pledge to take the appropriate steps needed to protect our customers if they are affected.” Finally, the company promised to issue timely updates as the investigation progresses.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
WhatsApp now lets you add short video messages to chats
WhatsApp logo on a phone.

You can now send short video messages in a WhatsApp chat, Meta announced on Thursday.

A video message can last for up to 60 seconds long and is protected with end-to-end encryption.

Read more
Musk shows off new X sign on top of San Francisco HQ, but the city’s not happy
The new X sign replacing the Twitter logo on the company's headquarters in San Francisco.

Soon after Elon Musk tweeted a drone video showing a new white light in the shape of an X atop the company’s headquarters in San Francisco on Friday, the Associated Press (AP) reported that the city had decided to launch in investigation over concerns that the sign's installation may have broken rules.

The X logo is replacing the iconic Twitter bird as Musk continues efforts to rebrand the social media platform that he acquired in October.

Read more
Threads has lost half its users, according to Meta chief Zuckerberg
Instagram Threads app.

Meta’s Threads app looks set for an uphill climb if it’s ever to take the microblogging crown from Twitter, which is currently being rebranded as X.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told employees that despite its impressive start in early July when around 100 million people activated a Threads account in its first five days of availability, more than half of those users have stopped checking in.

Read more