Technologies

Tea App Breach Exposed 72,000 Selfies and ID Photos

The images were being stored in a «legacy data system» containing information from more than two years ago, the company says.

Tea, a women’s safety dating app that has surged to the top of the free iOS App Store listings, suffered a major security breach last week. The company confirmed Friday that it has «identified authorized access to one of our systems» that exposed thousands of user images. And now, there’s the potential that more details on people using the app could be accessed.

According to Tea’s preliminary findings from the end of last week, the breach allowed access to approximately 72,000 images, broken down into two groups: 13,000 images of selfies and photo identification that people had submitted during account verification and 59,000 images that were publicly viewable in the app from posts, comments and direct messages.

Those images had been in a «legacy data system» that contained information from more than two years ago, the company said in statement. «At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that current or additional user data was affected.»

Earlier Friday, posts on Reddit and 404 Media reported that Tea app users’ faces and IDs had been posted on anonymous online message board 4chan.

Tea requires users to verify their identities with selfies or IDs, which is why driver’s licenses and pictures of people’s faces are in the leaked data.

Tea said it has launched a full investigation to assess the scope and impact of the breach.

DMs potentially exposed

A security researcher has also discovered that it is possible for hackers to gain access to DMs between Tea users, according to a report by 404 Media on Monday. This reportedly affects messages sent up to last week by people using the Tea app. Tea didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on this latest report.

The premise of Tea is to provide women with a space to report negative interactions they’ve had while encountering men in the dating pool, purportedly to keep other women safe. The app hit the No. 1 spot on Apple’s US App Store last week, drawing international attention and sparking a debate about whether the app violates men’s privacy. If the reports of a breach turn out to be true, it will also play into the wider ongoing debate around whether online identity and age verification pose an inherent security risk to internet users.

In the privacy section on its website, Tea says: «Tea Dating Advice takes reasonable security measures to protect your Personal Information to prevent loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. Please be aware, however, that despite our efforts, no security measures are impenetrable.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Monday, Dec. 1

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 1.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Tree that’s a symbol of Canada
Answer: MAPLE

6A clue: Back street
Answer: ALLEY

7A clue: Kind of steak with a letter in its name
Answer: TBONE

8A clue: Beer pong targets
Answer: CUPS

9A clue: «___ Pinafore» (Gilbert and Sullivan opera)
Answer: HMS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Show mutual interest, as on a dating app
Answer: MATCH

2D clue: «Bad» or «Good Kid, M.A.A.D City»
Answer: ALBUM

3D clue: Sits (down) heavily
Answer: PLOPS

4D clue: Contact ___
Answer: LENS

5D clue: Look here!
Answer: EYE

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 1, #434

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 1, No. 434.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition features one of those classic — and difficult — purple categories. You’ll need to look for words inside of words to get that grouping. (Or just solve the other three, and get purple by default.) If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Maybe on the beach.

Green group hint: Deal me in.

Blue group hint: Not necessarily Jim.

Purple group hint: Look at the final part of the words.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Volleyball terms.

Green group: Poker terms.

Blue group: Jameses.

Purple group: Ends in an NWSL team.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is volleyball terms. The four answers are dig, serve, set and spike.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is poker terms. The four answers are blind, flop, river and turn.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Jameses.The four answers are Cook, Harden, Shields and Worthy.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends in an NWSL team.The four answers are balderdash (Houston Dash), concurrent (Kansas City Current), foreign (Seattle Reign) and microwave (San Diego Wave).

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 1, #1626

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 1, No. 1,626.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a little tricky. Many people will confuse it with a similar word that’s spelled differently. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.