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Microsoft and VMware Vet Backs Social App That Vows Not to Monetize User Data

GEEKWIRE - Paul Maritz, a figure from Microsoft's heyday who went on to lead VMware and other tech companies, has emerged as a major investor in True, a messaging and social networking app that promises to make privacy paramount for its users. The company has raised ~$18M to date from Maritz and other investors, enough to give it a long runway at its current scale. True CEO, Bret Cox, said that True plans to make money through a subscription model that will allow creators to run virtual storefronts to sell products on the platform.

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True Exposed Private Messages and User Locations

TECH CRUNCH - Oct 29 - True, which bills itself as the social networking app that "protects users' privacy", has spilled private user data to the Internet for anyone to find. The app was launched in 2017 by Hello Mobile, a little-known virtual cell carrier that piggybacks off T-Mobile's network. True's website says it has raised $14M in seed funding, and claimed ~500K users shortly after its launch. A dashboard for one of the app's databases was exposed without a password, allowing anyone to access private user data, including email address or phone number, private posts and messages between users, and the user's last known geolocation, which could identify where a user was or had been. CEO Bret Cox confirmed the security lapse and pulled the dashboard offline.

by Zack Whittaker
See full article at Tech Crunch