Name: A domestic violence help app backed by Dr. Phil exposed victims' distress recordings
Brand: techcrunch.com
SKU: techcrunch-com-199
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

A domestic violence help app backed by Dr. Phil exposed victims' distress recordings

preview

Back in 2013, Robin McGraw, wife of U.S. television personality Dr. Phil, launched an app to help domestic violence victims covertly signal for distress. It was quickly heralded as for those in harm’s way., which claims , is disguised to look like an innocuous news reading app that domestic violence victims can use to alert friends and family to abuse or danger. When a victim taps the top bar of the app three times, the app can alert trusted contacts with a prewritten message, a prerecorded voice note and the victim’s precise location by text message to indicate that they need help or are in danger.But a security lapse meant that those uploaded voice recordings were left exposed on an unprotected cloud server for anyone to access.Security researchers Noam Rotem and Ran Locar found the exposed recordings and reported the incident. The database was pulled offline shortly after. Rotem and Locar their findings exclusively with TechCrunch.The cloud server contained over 4,000 recordings, dating back to September 2017. The recordings varied in length and nature, but some contained personally identifiable information, such as their name, address and phone number — information that could be relayed to the emergency services.At least one recording we listened to explicitly stated the name of the victim’s abuser.Given the sensitivity of the data, we did not reach out to app users for fear that it would compromise their safety.Instead, we confirmed that the data belonged to Aspire by downloading the app and recording a short voice snippet. When we triggered the alert, we received a text message with a web address to the recording file stored on the cloud server. That means anyone who received a similar link to a recording file could have easily found other recordings simply by shortening the full link.We asked the foundation run by the McGraws, When Georgia Smiled, how long the cloud server was exposed and if it had plans to inform users of the security lapse, but a representative for the foundation did not comment.A spokesperson for CBS, which airs Dr. Phil, did not respond to a request for comment.If you or someone you know needs help, the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) provides 24/7 free, confidential support to victims of domestic abuse and violence. If you are in an emergency situation, call 911.

Back in 2013, Robin McGraw, wife of U.S. television personality Dr. Phil, launched an app to help domestic violence victims covertly signal for distress. It was quickly heralded as for those in harm’s way., which claims , is disguised to look like an innocuous news reading app that domestic violence victims can use to alert friends and family to abuse or danger. When a victim taps the top bar of the app three times, the app can alert trusted contacts with a prewritten message, a prerecorded voice note and the victim’s precise location by text message to indicate that they need help or are...

public

Security editor @TechCrunch • +1 646.755.8849 • he/him • zack.whittaker@techcrunch.com • http://tcrn.ch/tips • vaccinated

Zack Whittaker

zackwhittaker

Technology news and analysis with a focus on founders and startup teams. Got a tip? tips@techcrunch.com

techcrunch.com

Credible

Speculation

Anecdotal Evidence

Generalization

Stacking the Deck

Appeal to Authority

Straw Man

Slippery Slope

Emotional Appeal

Red Herring

False Dilemma

Illogical

Moral Equivalency

Ad Hominem

Correlation w/o Causation

Semantics

Begging the Question

Faulty Analogy

Non Sequitur

Bandwagon

Dogmatism

Failing Occam's Razor

Biased

Pure Opinion

Hit Piece

Racial Bias

National Bias

Religious Bias

Financial Incentive

Political Agenda

Gender Bias

Misused Image/Video

Study Misinterpreted

Mistake

Misused Term

Science Misrepresented

Factual Error

Satire

Surface Level

Lack of Reliable Sources

Sensational

Not Credible

Investigative

Balanced

Well Sourced

Great Context

sports

entertainment

U.S.

international

business

technology

science

culture

politics

media

health

A domestic violence help app backed by Dr. Phil exposed victims' distress recordings

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS