Dating App Reveals Breach on Worst Possible Day

Those looking for love on the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel received an email from the company on Thursday. Given that it just happened to be Valentine's Day, users might have expected to open it up and read a word encouragement. Not so much. The email revealed a data breach, reports NBC News. Specifically, those using the app before May 2018—an estimated 6 million people—might have been compromised; the good news is that only names and email addresses seem to have been affected.

The Coffee Meets Bagel breach is part of a larger one that came to light this week involving 617 million accounts from 16 different websites, reports the UK Register. Someone on the Dark Web was offering all of the compromised accounts for $20,000 in Bitcoin. Other affected sites were Dubsmash, MyFitnessPal, MyHeritage, and ShareThis. And yes, Coffee Meets Bagel was aware of the timing. In a statement, it explains that people need to feel safe in the world of online dating. "We take that responsibility seriously, so we informed our community as soon as possible— regardless of what calendar date it fell on." (More data breach stories.)