Yo Gets Hacked By Kids
Aiyoh! Not good, Yo.
By Sadho Ram — 21 Jun 2014, 08:59 AM — Updated almost 10 years ago
Yo, a messaging app for iPhone and Android that simply lets users send the word "yo," has been hacked just days after it first gained mainstream attention
Or Arbel, the app's creator, confirmed to Mashable that "a few guys tried to hack" the app overnight and "did succeed to some extent." Yo is now working to resolve the issue.
washingtonpost.comThe hackers — roommates at Georgia Tech — say they're able to reveal the phone number of any Yo user as well as send spoof messages. They told TechCrunch:
The student emailed TechCrunch detailing what he alleges is the results of the hack: "We can get any Yo user's phone number (I actually texted the founder, and he called me back). We can spoof Yo's from any users, and we can spam any user with as many Yo. We could also send any Yo user a push notification with any text we want (though we decided not to do that)."
techcrunch.com
Founder Or Arbel said he could not reveal which hacks were still live
He said the company has brought in a specialist security team to deal with the issues and hoped the security problems would be fixed “in the next few hours.”
washingtonpost.comBut if you, like some 450,000 other people, downloaded Yo this week to see what all the fuss was about, you might be itching to hit the delete button right now
Unfortunately deleting the app won't remove your personal information from their databases. There's also no way to do that within the app. We asked Yo about this, and Arbel said that they will delete users who ask for it. All you have to do is email [email protected], ask to be removed and that's it. That being said, the company is taking the security flaws seriously and has moved within hours to patch the issues. So follow your heart.
washingtonpost.com