Coffee Meets Bagel outage caused by cybercriminals deleting data and files
If you got snubbed by the object of your affections on dating app Coffee Meets Bagel (CMB) in late August, don’t feel bad, the company says its systems were down due to cyber baddies.
The powers behind the app confirmed the cause of the seven-day outage yesterday, confirming anyone trying to open the app during the “week of August 27… had the frustrating experience of not being able to sign in or use the app.”
“We determined that the outage was the result of an outside actor who maliciously deleted company data and files. We quickly re-established a secure environment for our technology team to restore our production services and notified law enforcement,” it adds in a FAQ document on its website.
Access to the service was finally restored on September 3 after the “team spent days working around the clock to rebuild our system from online backups so that daters could securely get back online.”
Of course, there are plenty of alternative dating sites and this author – who is married – is reliably informed by other fellow Reg vultures that determined daters use more than one channel to find their perfect partner online.
We have asked the company about the point of entry for the criminals, if they demanded a ransom, if any data was exfiltrated and whether internal security was beefed up in the wake of the attack.
Further updates from CMB, which claims to have 10 million users worldwide, will be disclosed “as soon as we’ve pieced everything together.”
“We launched a thorough investigation, which is still ongoing, to understand the full scope of the incident and are working to further enhance company cybersecurity,” the FAQ says. “We’re incredibly sorry for the disruption, and we hope to make it up to new and existing CMB Daters alike.”
To try to make up for the security wobble, the company is offering a “welcome package” that includes all of their active chats being extended by seven days; subscription extended for 14 days free of charge; and 1,000 free beans (allowing the user to “like” or “pass” on profiles) were added to accounts.
All users were signed out as a “security precaution.” And for those worried they missed out on potential matches? No, you didn’t, is the word from CMB.
“During the outage, we stopped sending potential matches (also known as bagels) and likes. Now that we’re back online, you should be receiving bagels and likes as normal.”
Another FAQ answered is: “Will matches think I ghosted them?”
“Nope! No CMB Daters were able to access the site during the outage, so everyone is on the same page.”
CMB says it does not store payment information or data such as driving licenses, “as they are processed through third-party vendors.”
The company, started by three sisters to give women a different online dating app experience, has taken in $23 million in funding from five investment rounds. ®
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