Whisper promotes itself on its website as “the largest online platform where people share real thoughts and feelings.” According to the lawsuit, it has 17 billion monthly page views and 250 million monthly users across 187 countries. The data exposure was revealed in March by the independent researchers and first reported by The Washington Post. The app’s maker, Whispertext Inc., didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The data also included location coordinates of the users’ last submitted posts, according to the suit. The exposed data didn’t include the users’ real names but contained other identifying information, such as “stated age, ethnicity, gender, hometown, nickname, any membership in groups, many of which are devoted to sexual confessions and discussion of sexual orientation and desires,” the women said. Back in 2014, The Guardian reported that it tracked users' location information even if they opted out and also shared information with the US Department of Defense.Researchers were able to access “nearly 900 million user records from the app’s release in 2012 to the present day,” according to the lawsuit.
This isn't the first time the service was caught in a security-related controversy, though. Further, Whisper removed access to the data shortly after being notified by the researchers and The Post. The good news is that the researchers alerted law enforcement officials about the data exposure.
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Lauren Jamar, the VP of content and safety at Whisper's parent company MediaLab, said the sensitive details in the database represented "a consumer facing feature of the application which users can choose to share or not share." But the researchers explained that the real problem is that Whisper exposed its users' data en masse, allowing randos to download it all. Matthew Porter and Dan Ehrlich, cybersecurity consultants from Twelve Security, told the publication that they were able to access almost 900 million user records dating from the time the app was released in 2012. In addition, the database didn't just include details on newer users. WP says it found 1.3 million results when it searched for users aged 15. Since the database included users' age, and Whisper was a hit among teens, it would've been easy for bad actors to find underage users - especially since the records also contained the location coordinates of their last posts, which pointed to specific schools, neighborhoods and workplaces. Whisper has existed in a sort of alpha, working-prototype state for some time now. The protocol is seperate from the blockchain, so smart contracts do not have access. The experience of spending time on Whisper is unlike any other major social network: Its more raw, more moving.and yes, often more addictive. Those records included users' age, ethnicity, gender, hometown, nickname and membership in groups, which were mostly about sexual confessions and sexual orientation discussions. Whisper is a part of the Ethereum P2P protocol suite that allows for messaging between users via the same network that the blockchain runs on. Whisper is an online community where millions of people around the world share real thoughts, trade advice, and get the inside scoop. Apparently, Whisper kept a non-password-protected database that allowed anyone to freely browse its records. You can have group chats with up to 1000 people and group calls with up to eight people.
It’s a messaging app with features like one-to-one messages, groups, stickers, photos, file transfers, voice calls, and even video calls. According to a Washington Post report, however, it left sensitive information that can be tied to users' confessions exposed to the public for years. The user experience of Signal is just like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and other popular chat apps. The once-popular app Whisper promises a place where you can share secrets anonymously.