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Those who use Venmo as their primary money transfer app, may want to consider changing their privacy settings. After a security badyst badyzed more than 200 million Venmo transactions in 2017, it became apparent that the application exposes many private details about its users, reports The Guardian.
The project was created by the Berlin researcher Hang Do Thi Duc On the site, she explains how she was able to learn an "alarming amount" on Venmo users by pulling a total of 207,984, 218 transactions all via the Application (Public Application Programming Interface) – accessible to everyone.
Although Venmo allows you to choose what is public or not, all transactions are public by default – something that some users may not achieve. To protect your information, you can choose to make all future transactions visible only to the sender and the recipient. In this way, they will not appear on the public stream. There is also the possibility of making all past transactions private too.
Using the data recorded via the API, Do Thi Duc has been able to reconstruct the lives of five different Venmo users identified as: 'The Cannabis Retailer & # 39; Corn Dealer, "The Lovers", "The YOLOist" and "The All Americans". Each one contains stories of who they are with specific details she could find by simply sifting through their transactions – including exactly how many transactions were. Even though she could see the full names, she did not publish this identification information.
"This Venmo user – a young woman with a Greek surname – made 2,033 transactions in eight months" time. And through his transactions Venmo emerges an unhealthy portrait. She loves Coca Cola (280 transactions) and pizza (209 transactions), and will often have coffee with the same three friends. She also likes to eat a lot of sweets, especially donuts, "she writes about" The YOLOist ".
On the site, Do Thi Duc explains that the project should clarify the fact that companies should protect their personal data. first. While the public stream of Venmo seems harmless – and even a source of entertainment for some – we do not really realize how much information we share. This includes your first and last name, transaction history, and blatantly reveal where and with whom you spend your time by listing who is the money.
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