Tips for keeping safe on dating apps

Valentine’s is just around the corner and if you’ve turned online to find a date, you best keep your guard up. You don’t just have to worry about physical safety when it comes to dating apps. You have to be wary about your personal data, too. According to a recent IBM study, over 60 percent of popular dating apps are potentially vulnerable to different cyberattacks. These can be used to download malware, track your movements via GPS, get your credit card number stolen, etc.

To keep you more secure, IBM is offering these few tips:

• Don’t give away too much of your personal information like where you work, birthday, or even social media profile until you’re really comfortable with the person you are engaging with.
• Check the permissions of the app on your mobile device. When an app updates, it will usually reset permissions like if it has access to GPS, your address book, etc. This’ll ensure that you’re really comfortable with using the app.
• Never use the same password for any of your online accounts. This’ll help localize any attack.
• Update your phone or app as soon updates come. This helps get rid of bugs.
• Make sure to only use trusted Wi-Fi connections. This isn’t just for online banking transactions. Do this for dating apps as well so you can at least keep hackers at bay somehow.