Use Dating Sites Or Apps? Here’s How To Protect Yourself From Hackers
If previous hacks of dating sites like AdultFriendFinder and Ashley Madison has frozen you in your love-tapped tracks, you may be wondering if any of your online and app-based dating exploits are safe.
After all, the AdultFriendFinder hack last year was one of the largest data breaches ever recorded, with some 412 million accounts across the globe compromised, while 2015’s Ashley Madison hack revealed the details of 37 million users of the extra-marital affair dating site.
Let’s face it: these days, we are all at risk of a data hack, whether our devices are storing state security secrets, or the phone numbers of three girls we’d love to more than virtually click with. And what, with the NSA ever working its global surveillance project, plus the evidence that even the encryption credentials of https, VPN and 4G are fallible, it’s enough for any man of dignity and a few dodgy internet searches in his browser to retreat into Luddite tactics of only hitting the local pub in want of a date.
1. Use a unique email address
Out of the AdultFriendFinder hack came the revelation of multiple UK government email addresses used to register accounts. Basics: don’t use your work or personal email address when you register with the site; it takes two minutes to set up a brand new account on Gmail and you know you’re only going to be receiving junk notifications anyway, which you really don’t want sending to your daytime desktop.
2. Hack-proof your password
It’s amazing how many people don’t use top-notch passwords – a Facebook hack this week revealed that a whopping 120,000 people actually used 123456 as theirs. Continue reading “How To Not Get Hacked On Dating Sites”