Koo, India's Twitter alternative, accuses French hacker of leaking user data

GUWAHATI: Koo, India’s microblogging alternative to Twitter has accused French security researcher Robert Baptiste, who goes by the pseudonym Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y on Twitter), of exposing its users' personal data.

 

Baptiste claimed that, at the request of users on Twitter, he spent 30 minutes on Koo and noticed that the microblogging site was disclosing confidential user information, such as email addresses, identities, gender, and more.

 

To detail his findings about Koo, he also posted a number of tweets.

 

 

 

 

 

Baptiste claims that the app leaked its users' personal data, including email, date of birth, marital status, and gender. Baptiste also suggested in more screenshots that Koo had a domain registered in the US with China-based registrants.

 

After Twitter declined to block any accounts linked to the ongoing farmers' protest at the government's request, Union Ministers, political higher-ups and celebrities joined the app. Following this, the the new Indian social media site has recently gained some traction.

 

Union Minister Piyush Goyal even invited users to join him on Koo via a post on Twitter.

The application Koo developed by Aprameya Radhakrishna is available on desktop, iOS, and Android offers a Twitter-like experience in Indian languages.

 

Last year, the app won the Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat Innovate Challenge from the government, which was intended to promote the development of local applications.

Responding to the allegations Radhakrishna posted on Twitter that the 'exposed' user data was publicly accessible anyway.

 

He said, "The data visible is something that the user has voluntarily shown on their profile of Koo. It cannot be termed a data leak. If you visit a user profile you can see it anyway."