Many perils for online love seekers this Valentine’s Day

Advice for people seeking love on the Internet for Valentine’s Day: keep looking, but watch for scams and other risks. Security experts say hackers and other malicious actors often use the occasion to target romance-seekers and the lovelorn. The growing sector of dating apps that use mobile technology has led to new risks, according to researchers. IBM Security said this week it found 26 of 41 mobile dating apps studied to be vulnerable to cyber-attacks that put personal user information and corporate data at risk. Many dating applications can give access to a smartphone camera, microphone, storage, location and mobile wallet billing information, according to IBM.

Many consumers use and trust their mobile phones for a variety of applications. It is this trust that gives hackers the opportunity to exploit vulnerabilities like the ones we found in these dating apps.

IBM Security vice president Caleb Barlow

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