Kaspersky has announced figures relating to the dangers posed by dating apps.
Kaspersky’s analysis has shown that within 2019 the Middle East saw a circulation of 658 threats under the guise of over 20 popular dating applications, with 2,082 attacks on 1,352 users detected.
The countries attacked most often were Egypt, accounting for 31% of all attacks in the region, Saudi Arabia (18%) and the UAE (17%).
Popular dating services used worldwide, such as Tinder, Bumble or Zoosk, often become a bait used to spread mobile malware or retrieve personal data to later bombard users with unwanted ads.
Such files have nothing to do with legitimate apps, as they only use a name and sometimes copy a design of authentic dating services.
Cybercriminals would most often choose Tinder to cover their files: this app’s name was used in nearly a third of all cases with 693 attacks detected in the Middle East. However, the researchers noticed that around 13% of attacks in the region came from the apps disguised as local services for solely Arab matchmaking.
“We advise users to stay attentive and use legal versions of applications that are available in official application stores,” said Vladimir Kuskov, Head of Advanced Threat Research and Software Classification at Kaspersky.
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