Threaten me softly: A review of potential dating app risks

Abstract

The potential abuse of dating applications (apps), including during the current lockdowns due to COVID-19, has resulted in a growing community of research to learn to what extent the impacts of these apps have on the individual's psychological and physiological being, as well as the presumed security of their sensitive information. In this paper, we seek to review the existing literature that encompasses the issues surrounding dating apps. Specifically, we focus on crimes that can occur from the use of dating apps, potential mitigation strategies, the physiological and psychological effects on not only the general population, but also minority groups, and lastly, an assessment on the associated cybersecurity risks and potential digital artifacts of interest in criminal investigations. Although research on dating apps will continue to struggle with the ever-changing technological landscape, it is important to examine best practices and mitigation strategies that dating app developers can utilize to create safer platforms. Finally, we conclude this paper with a number of potential research opportunities.

Keywords

• Dating apps
• Online dating
• Mobile forensics
• Dating app artifacts
• Dating app risks
• Dating app forensics