Using Candy Crush, Tinder? Your data, money can be stolen, robbed! – Trak.in

Nowadays, the value of smartphones lies largely in the variety of applications and games they support.

Popular apps can cause data leakage

In this digital world, millions of people now rely on their smartphones for daily communication, entertainment and productivity.

At such times, the latest events of

popular apps like Candy Crush Saga and Tinder for data leaks have attracted some attention.

There were important data violation at Gravy Analytics, a leading location data broker, according to

report published by the media on January 9, 2025.

The breach subsequently raised serious concerns about how popular apps could abuse users’ real-time location data.

Essentially, this breach is a very good example of how popular apps like Candy Crush Saga and Tinder provided user location data to Gravy Analytics, which was then compromised by a hacker.

The breach primarily involved terabytes of consumer data stored in Amazon’s cloud.

It is also one of the largest known collections of consumer location information.

In fact, it points to a disturbing reality.

In this breach, user location data is not only collected on a large scale, but also sold and shared with unauthorized third parties.

The hackers behind this breach reportedly shared samples of the stolen data on a Russian forum.

They claimed to have extracted millions of locations from the Gravy Analytics database.

He points to various locations in the United States, Europe, even including sensitive areas such as the White House, the Kremlin and military bases.

The data leak appears to serve as a stark reminder of the enormity of location tracking and the serious risks to privacy and security.

Further highlighting how easily location data, including information from highly sensitive sites, can become available to unauthorized parties.

How does it work?

We know ethical hacker Baptiste Robert shared on X how Gravy Analytics gets its data.

It doesn’t appear that Gravy Analytics typically collects data directly from apps, Robert said.

In addition, it works with advertising agencies or intermediaries that access user data from Android and iOS devices.

Of greatest concern is that the implications of this breach extend beyond personal privacy, given that the data breach involves sensitive locations such as government offices, religious sites, and private residences, raising the potential for espionage, blackmail, and other malicious activities . .

How to protect yourself?

If you’re an Android user, just go to Settings, then Privacy, and select Ads. From there, you can remove your advertising ID.

Similarly for iOS users, just go to Settings, then Privacy & Security and select Tracking.

• Here, turn off the option that allows apps to request tracking and you’re good to go.

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