Plenty of Fish hacked (biggest online dating site).

erikistired

Diamond Member
Sep 27, 2000
9,739
0
0
i dunno what to think about this. the owner of PoF is ranting and raving, but the "hacker" seems to be a security researcher pointing out a major hole that was already being exploited. it sounds more like sour grapes for being exposed, but who knows. the emails between the person who found the hole and the owner's wife seem rather chipper.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,585
30,836
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wow, I've never heard of the site and it's the biggest online dating site?

weird.
 

Texashiker

Lifer
Dec 18, 2010
18,811
198
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wow, I've never heard of the site and it's the biggest online dating site?

weird.

Never heard of this place either, not so many fish in the advertising sea I guess.

Plenty of fish does not do a lot of advertising. When you hold the #1 spot on google for "free dating site", who "really" needs to advertise.

The owner of plenty of fish brings in about $300,000 per month from google adsense, he should be able to afford to hire some good security people.

Top 8 google adsense earners

There is a lot of talk about Markus Frind in the blogging / webmaster circles.
 

MetalMat

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2004
9,687
36
91
Yeah I got an email today saying that I needed to change my password. I did not trust it but I guess its true. I have not been on that site in a while.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,920
2,161
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wow, I've never heard of the site and it's the biggest online dating site?

weird.

I was going to say this too.

Also, when the site is called "Plenty of Fish..." I picture unkempt nasty women for some reason.
 

Woosta

Platinum Member
Mar 23, 2008
2,978
0
71
What a moron owner - he didn't listen at ALL to the security dude despite all the warnings... and he stored those passwords in plain text.

fail
 
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waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
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i heard of plenty of fish. though to be honest it was in passing and i figured it was a fishing site.

but yes the owner sounds like a idiot.
 

disappoint

Lifer
Dec 7, 2009
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I had heard of Plenty of Fish a while back, thought about joining but didn't. Had no idea the owner was such a dumbass.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
The Plenty of Fish website is only a step above Geocities Builder quality. :\
 

Lifted

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2004
5,748
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0
Owner was being extorted. Owner doesn't know much about security/programming. This isn't match.com though, so he's not making enough to hire tons of developers and security experts. His income from google ads pay for the ton of servers and bandwidth he needs, with enough leftover for a nice paycheck.
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
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a few months ago they mentioned that site on the local radio station morning show here which is pretty much the biggest one in NY... it wasn't even an ad-spot... they claimed it was a good site so lots of visitors I'm sure. I checked out the site just now and I don't even see any google ads... how the hell is he making that much?

Can you freakin imagine that much money a month? How many cars can you buy?! :( Well first up a house with a big enough garage...
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
50,419
8
81
I've used it. Went on quite a few dates, actually. Haven't used it in a long time.

It's a good site. Simple.

But the article is alarming. Maybe I should delete my account.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
I've used it. Went on quite a few dates, actually. Haven't used it in a long time.

It's a good site. Simple.

But the article is alarming. Maybe I should delete my account.

Except the amount of search results is a pure sham. If you go through the pages, you will see Plenty of Repeats if anything. :\
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
50,419
8
81
Except the amount of search results is a pure sham. If you go through the pages, you will see Plenty of Repeats if anything. :\

??

I guess I never noticed. I never had a problem with the search results. Seemed pretty straight forward to me.
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
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Except the amount of search results is a pure sham. If you go through the pages, you will see Plenty of Repeats if anything. :\

Saw this myself. Not as bad as Yahoo Singles, but pretty bad. Ruins the online dating experience IMO.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
Repeats aren't too bad, but they do get kind of annoying after awhile. I think it happens when you do a broader search (50+ miles) with at least a few pages of results.

Another problem... the huge amount of baby mamas, and in my area, lots of people who put "Jesus" as one of their keywords :p.
 

Texashiker

Lifer
Dec 18, 2010
18,811
198
106
This isn't match.com though, so he's not making enough to hire tons of developers and security experts.

You do not have to hire a "ton" of security experts or programmers - security consultants are usually hired on a per-job basis, and all you need are a couple of good quality programmers.

Making $300,000 a month, I don't see what the problem is.

Every 3 - 6 months bring in a security consulting firm, have them do a review of the site and servers, then have your programmers fix the issues.