If the object of your affections on the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel (CMB) ignored you towards the end of August, don’t beat yourself up over it; the firm claims that its systems were down due to cyber criminals, so it’s not their fault. Anyone who tried to use the app during the “week of August 27… had the frustrating experience of not being able to sign in or use the app,” the developers of the app acknowledged the reason of the seven-day outage, confirming that anyone who tried to open the app during that time period.
After an investigation, they came to the conclusion that the outage was caused by a third party that had deliberately erased corporate data and files. “The team quickly re-established a secure environment for technology team to restore production services and notified law enforcement,the company states in a document titled “Frequently Asked Questions” that is hosted on its website.
Access to the service was eventually brought back online on September 3, after the “team spent days working around the clock to rebuild system from online backups so that daters could securely get back online.” Additional details from CMB, which claims that it has 10 million members throughout the globe, would be provided “as soon as we’ve pieced everything together.”
We have inquired with the business about the point of entry that the criminals used, whether or not they wanted a ransom, whether or not any data was stolen, and whether or not there was an increase in the level of internal security as a result of the attack.
According to the frequently asked questions, “We have initiated a comprehensive investigation, which is still ongoing, in order to understand the full scope of the incident,” and “We are working to further enhance company cybersecurity.” “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and we hope to make it up to both new and existing CMB Daters in some way.”
In an effort to make amends for the security breach, the company is providing users with a “welcome package” that consists of the following: an extension of all of their active chats by seven days; a free extension of their subscription for the following fourteen days; and the addition of 1,000 free beans to their accounts. These beans allow users to “like” or “pass” on profiles.
All of the users had their sessions terminated as a “security precaution.” And what about those who are concerned that they did not meet suitable companions? According to CMB, the answer is “No,” you did not.
Unfortunately, since restoring the app was such a significant operation, there are still some problems that haven’t been fixed. The staff is working hard to identify the issues and find solutions to them as fast as possible. As of the 6th of September, the following is a list of the problems the team are currently looking into and anticipate solving over the next few days:
After the downtime, there were many ongoing conversations that vanished for no apparent reason. The problem can often be fixed by signing out and then signing back in, although this is not always the case. Within the next several days, this issue ought to be resolved.
There are now fewer bagels in the Suggested or Discover sections: The matching algorithm is only getting warmed up, so over the next few days you should start seeing more possible matches pop up.
Absent Boosts: Because Boost required some maintenance, they had to temporarily deactivate it in order to guarantee a smooth experience for all users. As soon as the functionality is completely functional, the Boosts will be returned to wallet, and the team will make sure to let you know as soon as they are available.
Again the reason behind all these issue is that an unidentified third party intentionally removed data and files belonging to the organization, which resulted in the outage. They immediately began an exhaustive investigation, which is currently under way, with the goal of comprehending the entire magnitude of the event, and we are trying to further improve the cybersecurity of the organization.
Information security specialist, currently working as risk infrastructure specialist & investigator.
15 years of experience in risk and control process, security audit support, business continuity design and support, workgroup management and information security standards.