Guardian Soulmates Dating Site Users Hit with Explicit Spam After Data Exposure

British dating site Guardian Soulmates suffers data leak which led to users being targeted with sexually explicit spam emails. 

According to the BBC, who quotes the Guardian newspaper's publisher, "human error" was at fault for accidentally exposing people's private data. The issue, they said, has been fixed. 

The publication quotes a user who started receiving spam messages featuring the username they used on the Guardian Soulmates site. They say they contacted Soulmates half a year ago because of concerns regarding the data that may have been taken. 

A spokesperson for the site said that only email addresses and user IDs had been exposed directly, which could be used to find members' publicly available profiles. The information on public profiles, including photos, relationship preferences, and physical description could also be accessed. 

The same spokesperson said the site received 27 messages from mem...