A platform designed to protect women’s safety in dating has instead become a nightmare for its users. In this episode, we uncover the catastrophic Tea app data breach, which exposed more than 59 GB of highly sensitive user data due to a fundamental security failure: a completely public Firebase storage bucket with no authentication, no encryption, and no internal checks.
Among the compromised data were 13,000 government ID selfies collected for user verification, over 59,000 user-generated images from posts and comments, and a separate database containing 1.1 million private messages—some discussing deeply personal topics like infidelity, abortions, and abusive relationships. Far from being old or inactive data, some of the leaked conversations were as recent as last week.
The fallout has been severe. Hackers quickly exploited the breach, sharing stolen data on forums, torrent sites, and even creating a “facesmash”-style site to publicly rate women from their selfies. Another leak mapped user locations on Google Maps, raising terrifying risks of stalking and real-world targeting. Victims now face identity theft, harassment, and social engineering attacks, with personal dignity and safety at stake.
We break down how this disaster was made possible by “vibe coding” with AI-generated code, rushed development without security audits, and a failure to follow basic cybersecurity hygiene. We also examine Tea’s contradictory statements, delayed disclosure, and the potential legal and reputational fallout for a platform that promised women they’d “never have to compromise their safety while dating.”
Finally, we discuss the critical lessons for developers and users: why infrastructure reviews, encryption, incident response planning, and staff training are essential, and what individuals should do if they suspect their personal data has been compromised.
The Tea app breach isn’t just a cautionary tale—it’s a wake-up call for every digital platform that handles sensitive information.
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