Dating website Match.com has been revealed to not be using SSL to protect user data.
According to Ars Technica the dating site does not use HTTPS encryption to protect its login page, potentially allowing anyone with a man-in-the-middle vantage point to pilfer the credentials.
Ars reader Scott Bryner, alerted Ars to the issue, but it is unclear exactly how long the site has failed to encrypt user credentials. Bryner provided the screenshot immediately above this paragraph, which suggests Match.com is experiencing a server configuration error that’s redirecting all HTTPS traffic to an HTTP connection.
TK Keanini, CTO of Lancope, said: “This is always a concern of mine because, not only on your PC, but on your mobile phones and tablets, you really don’t know if those 40+ applications you are using across untrusted networks are secured by properly implemented HTTPS transactions. The problem is the only people doing quality assurance here are the attackers. Anything less than HTTPS using TLS should be a ‘no ship’ and redesigned.
“Match.com is significant to a lot of people; I met my wife on Match.com. The amount of trust, emotion, and communication that goes on between what begins as complete strangers is already an attackers dream but then to have the technology expose credentials in this manner is unacceptable and really needs to be addressed as the advantage is to the attacker.”
Adam Winn, senior product manager at OPSWAT, said: “It is simply not acceptable to use HTTP for a website’s login page. There really is no excuse for not using HTTPS. HTTPS is a straightforward and low cost solution that ensures that data is encrypted and safe.
“On pages where users are asked to submit sensitive information, HTTPS should always be used with TLS as the preferred encryption type. In addition to encrypting data in transit, HTTPS also protects data from being manipulated and can therefore prevent any phishing and malware injection attacks on the page.”
