Government websites aren’t the only ones getting hacked. Recently, some dating websites have been hit, too.
As many as 37 million customers of the dating website AshleyMadison.com, which caters to cheating spouses, saw their credit card information, nude photos and sexual fantasies stolen, KrebsOnSecurity blog reported recently.
And in May, AdultFriendFinder.com, an online dating site for adults seeking sexual trysts, said hackers compromised the personal information of some of its 64 million members.
Online dating sites are apparently becoming hacker gold.
“The Internet, cell phones and social media are the new wingmen,” writes the Pew Research Center. More and more people are using the technology to get a date — or a hookup.
At least 1 in 10 Americans have used an online dating website or mobile dating app, according to a 2013 survey by Pew. And 38 percent of people who consider themselves “single and looking” for a partner have used one.
Many have had success. About 23 percent of online daters say they’ve met their spouse or entered a long-term relationship because of these sites.
The experience isn’t always pleasant, however, even if people aren’t having their data stolen.
More than half of online daters thought “someone else seriously misrepresented themselves” on the site. And many online daters were made to feel harassed or uncomfortable: 42 percent of female online daters experienced this versus 17 percent of men.
What do people talk about on the dating sites? In Maine, apparently, they talk about the woods. Mashable worked with Match.com to discover the most distinctive terms in online dating profiles for each state in the country based on thousands of profiles, and Vox put together this map. Mainers know their environment:
To learn a little more about the world of digital match-making, here’s an infographic from the Pew Research Center that outlines the online world’s growing influence over love, even in the face of potential attack:
