Using a dating app doesn’t just run the risk of a broken heart, it might also mean handing over your most intimate data to platforms with weak cybersecurity, according to new research from the Business Digital Index.

After analysing twenty-four of the largest dating platforms, BDI’s cybersecurity rating team found that 75% of major dating apps are unsafe, receiving either a grade of D or F for their cybersecurity efforts.

Scanning publicly visible systems, BDI rated just two platforms as B’s, the best result across the study, with Bumble hitting an overall score of 93 out of 100, and EliteSingles scoring 92.

Among the worst performers, and all scoring an abysmal F, are the likes of Zoosk (59), Christian Mingle (66), and the lesser-known Coffee Meets Bagel (67).

However, BDI also discovered that the biggest dating platforms offer the poorest cybersecurity. Match, for example, was rated F with a score of 64 out of 100, while AdultFriendFinder came dead last, scoring just 40.

Match Group apps, including Tinder, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and Match.com, all scored C or below, a worrying result considering that the company claimed 82 million monthly users at the end of last year.

BDI found that those dating apps with the lowest scores all lacked strong email authentication safeguards, while seven major platforms, including Badoo, Zoosk, Match, Grindr, and Ashley Madison, had a high number of TLS configuration issues, and eleven showed signals of weak web application configuration.

Even more worrying, BDI analysed dark web marketplaces and breach repositories for user credentials linked to past data breaches suffered by these platforms, and found credentials tied to 76% of the companies analysed in the past month alone.

Data apps are prime targets for threat actors due to their extremely sensitive nature. Users often share explicit photos, messages and personal information, not to mention credit card or other payment details.

Past breaches have resulted in broken marriages, blackmail, and even reports of suicide. For instance, when Ashley Madison was breached in 2015, exposing the data of more than 30 million people, police linked the leak to multiple instances of those involved taking their own lives.

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Despite that enormous human impact just ten years ago, in this latest study, Ashley Madison only scored a D for its security. 

In fact, BDI found that every major dating service hit by a high-profile leak in the last decade is still operating, even if they had suffered temporary setbacks in traffic and profits.

To stay secure and protect sensitive data, BDI’s study recommends that users maintain unique emails for their dating apps, avoid reusing the same profile pictures, limit their location sharing, and keep their social media profiles separated. However, even these practical tips cannot make up for a lack of security among the platforms themselves.

“Our findings show that many dating platforms in 2025 still have the same weaknesses that have driven devastating breaches,” concludes the study. “Unless corrected, history might repeat itself.”