No, Dating Apps Can't Hack A Company Network

It’s no secret that millions of people use mobile dating apps like Tinder and OKCupid to find love. For many, they might have these apps on company issued cell phones or connect their personal devices into a company network posing a big question: can personal apps access a company network?

A recent report from Flexera Software found that most of the popular dating apps can access a phone’s contact list, calendar, location services as well as texting capabilities. The report noted that when dating apps come into contact with a company network, they can access sensitive corporate information, a frightening possibility for America’s largest corporations.

But there’s no reason to panic right now. Diogo Monica, the security lead at Docker (an open platform for developers to build apps) and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), says that most popular apps like Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) or Uber care deeply about user privacy and thus have strong security features. “The majority of well known apps invest in security” says Monica. They even pay security researchers to hack and test an app’s security.

Regardless, Monica says that hacking an app to access a company network is too complicated and an extra step that hackers don’t need to take. According to him, sending a phishing email with a bug to employees is the easiest way to get inside a company’s system.

So feel free to keep swiping right (or left) with no fear.