While hackers are threatening to expose the adultery of Indians registered with international dating sites, a few Indian portals claim they keep user information confidential. By Shrabasti Mallik
Riya Roy is a software professional — hardworking and dedicated. So busy she was, shaping her career, that she neither had the time to fall in love nor for romantic pursuits. She happily married a groom fixed by her family, who was equally professional and successful, too. Three years of marital bliss and people look upto them as an ideal couple. But Roy hides a terrible secret, both from her husband and society. The only ones who know are her laptop and a dating site Datanta India.
It is just for the thrill, justifies Roy . “It is just that sometimes you get so bored with the everyday normal routine that you want to walk on the edge for a little while. There is a sense of excitement, an anticipation when you await a text from the other end,” she said.
With news of hackers threatening to go public with user information of ashleymadison, a website which caters to extra marital affairs, people like Roy stand the chance of being brought under the scanner.
When the question arises as to how safe and secure Indian dating sites and apps are, we expected the and founders of apps to say that they protect user information. Sachin Bhatia, founder of TrulyMadly, explained to us that there very few dating sites in India which cater to married people. Yes, there are numerous people who will fake their marital identities but his site scans them before letting them register. “All our users log in through Facebook, so that we can go through his bio and run a background check on them,” he said. But then, how safe is that information. “We run external audits from time to time and the data we collect, is stored with our team, away from the site,” he added. To avert being hacked, they employ ethical hackers so that they can upgrade security. They claim to reject 25 per cent registration every month.
HitchUp is an app which connects people with similar outlook on life after scanning their database. Aseem Singhal, founder, told us that the app does not ask for any user data. “We don’t ask for email, password, phone numbers. Instead, we have build a unique technology to identify a user from his/her handset. Thus, there is no question of data being misused,” he said.