SaferWatch App Leaks Users Private Info
CCSO Has Stopped Using The App While The Incident Is Investigated
Users of the SaferWatch app had their private account information shared publicly via a comment thread on an alert from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO). The alert was published to warn people about traffic caused by the Clay County Strawberry Festival. Users could comment on the alert, and the comments were visible to other users.
Comments caused users with notifications enabled to receive an avalanche of notifications from the app.
Users participating in the chat soon learned that their private contact info and exact location were accessible to anyone who could see the comments.
Soon after the incident began, Sheriff Michelle Cook posted to her official Facebook page that the SaferWatch app had been “hacked” without any additional details.
Commenters in the SaferWatch chat tried to help people avoid the barrage of notifications. However, some users stated they were still receiving them even after disabling all messages from the app. Other users took the opportunity to crack jokes and make light of the situation. Eventually, people deleted the app from their phones to avoid the alerts.
Eventually, Sheriff Cook took to Facebook Live to advise that she had spoken with the owner of SaferWatch, who suggested that a ‘glitch’ was the cause of the issue. Cook stated that CCSO would stop using the app and apologized to those impacted by the incident. Clay News & Views will update this story as it develops.
Another example as to why we need all the semiconductor technology built here in America. After owning a VW diesel and finding out about the computer chip fraud, AT&T getting hacked, VyStar mess up, the pagers that went off alerting Israel’s leadership where opposition was I honestly believe we are all in for more “strange” happenings. We have become open to all and any form of data breaching. Everyone needs to be extra careful when using any form of technology. We have no firewalls for these chip. My ignorant opinion.
Here is potential story for you. In keystone heights the lake levels have been up since the big rains we had in October. The lake covered ‘save our lake’ signs hanging from the dock. This has been going on for months before the blackcreek-alligator creek pipeline was even tested. I suspect the SOLO people are going to take all the credit for their multimillion dollar pipeline raising the water levels! The keystone heights free paper has a couple article on the pipeline with only praise for the pipeline with no mention of the naturally renewed lake level. Thanks for all that you guys do.
-Josh