Koo, India’s alternative to Twitter that is offered in multiple regional languages has been accused of exposing users’ personal data. The apparent problem was discovered by French security researcher Robert Baptiste who revealed his findings on Twitter. According to Baptiste, he spent 30 minutes on Koo at the request of his followers and found the app was exposing sensitive information of its users. Details such as names, gender, email addresses and more were revealed to be left vulnerable by the application. 

You asked so I did it. I spent 30 min on this new Koo app. The app is leaking of the personal data of his users: email, dob, name, marital status, gender, ... https://t.co/87Et18MrOg pic.twitter.com/qzrXeFBW0L

Baptiste shared screenshots on Twitter which shows that it was fairly easy for him to get personal information of Koo users. He said the app leaks personal data of its users with other information such as DOB, marital status and email details. Koo’s domain is also not registered in India but instead in the US with the registrant based in China. 

© KooApp

Koo currently is being touted as the alternative to Twitter as the app offers features almost identical to Twitter. Koo’s unique selling point is having support for regional languages which gives it an advantage over Twitter. However, in our usage, the app is not as intuitive to use as basic sections such as ‘Trending’ take a very long time to load. Koo describes itself as an app "built for Indians to share their views in their mother tongue and have meaningful discussions. Discussions are around interesting topics. It empowers people to express their thoughts in Indian languages with a strong-knit local Indian community.”

View the full article