Pregnancy app exposes women to possible security threat

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- There's an app for almost everything, including helping women get pregnant. But Consumer Reports uncovered troubling security flaws in a popular women's health app.

Consumer Reports recently tested the security and privacy features on a popular women's health and fertility app called Glow.

"Consumer Reports discovered that people with little to no hacking skills could link their Glow account to another user's account without the other person knowing it. We investigated this using our own test accounts," said Maria Rerecich, Head of Electronics Testing at Consumer Reports.

It's designed to help women track their monthly cycles and get pregnant. The app asks for very personal information, like how you slept, whether you use birth control and even if you're constipated.

"So with just the email address on the account, he was able to invite me. I didn't have to accept the invitation and he can see the personal information that I entered in the app," said Maria.

Then using common security software, Consumer Reports could see the personal data of any user who posted a message in the app's forums.

In another test, Consumer Reports found it was fairly easy to change a user's password and take over their account.

"So he changed my password. I could not get into my account. Because I didn't know the password. He could get into my account and do anything he wanted with that, have access to all my data, pretend to be me," said Maria.

In response, Glow has since fixed these security issues and says "there is no evidence to suggest that any Glow data has been compromised."

Glow says it has contacted all users to change their password, update the app and re-link with their partner's account.

Make sure you do that and in fact, no matter what kind of apps you download, make sure to change your password and update the apps regularly.

To view the full article from Consumer Reports, CLICK HERE.