Indian Twitter alternative Koo has got into a new controversy. French security researcher, Robert Baptiste — who goes by Elliot Alderson on Twitter — has found chinks in the platform’s systems. He posted screenshots on Twitter showing that the Indian app is leaking certain personal information from its user accounts. The company has now responded to the researcher’s claim. Koo CEO Aprameya has tweeted that the data visible is something that the user has voluntarily shown on their profile and cannot be termed as data leak. He further added that other users can visit the profile to see the data that is voluntarily shared. Alderson responded to the Koo CEO’s tweet. Let’s take a look at more details around the Koo data security concerns.
Koo CEO responds to data security concerns; denies any data leak on the platform
Koo’s CEO Aprameya denied any data leak on the app. He stated that the data visible is something that a user has voluntarily shared on their profile and cannot be termed as a leak.
Some news about data leaking being spoken about unnecessarily. Please read this:
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
— Aprameya R (@aprameya) February 11, 2021
Researcher Alderson responded shortly after the CEO denied the data leak. He posted a screenshot of a user and asked how was he able to get the account’s gender, date of birth, and marital status details when they are not visible on the profile.
@aprameya the screenshots of the 1st tweet has been done on this profile. Where do you see her dob? Her gender? Her marital status? pic.twitter.com/RCkTfJU1Vw
— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) February 11, 2021
Koo’s CEO, without agreeing or denying, requested the security researcher to share his feedback via email.
We’re attempting to do something for our country, India. All help is appreciated. If you want to help out in this journey of ours please write to me on ar@kooapp.com and we can take a look at all the feedback you have. Thanks!
— Aprameya R (@aprameya) February 11, 2021
After the CEO dodged the question, it further raises concerns on the platform’s security. According to reports, Koo has gained over three million new downloads over the past three days, thanks to a tussle between the government and Twitter.
