August 11, 2025
You Can’t Vibe Code Security
Why Technical Foundations Matter in Safer Tech
Why Technical Foundations Matter in Safer Tech
In July 2025, the dating app Tea, designed to create a safer digital space for women and LGBTQ+ users, experienced a major data breach. The app's backend, built on Firebase, had no authentication in place. This configuration error allowed attackers to access highly sensitive data such as profile pictures, phone numbers, birth dates, and user locations. That information was then leaked on 4chan and Telegram.
This incident is not just a case of technical oversight. It highlights a recurring problem in software development: the belief that a mission-driven interface or inclusive branding can compensate for the absence of foundational security practices.
Tea aimed to be inclusive, affirming, and community-first. Its user experience reflected that intent. However, the platform’s underlying technical infrastructure lacked even the most basic security safeguards. Reports indicated that default Firebase rules were never updated, meaning all backend data was publicly accessible to anyone with minimal technical knowledge.
This reveals a dangerous gap between intention and execution. When user trust is central to a product’s value proposition, neglecting security architecture becomes more than a technical issue—it becomes an ethical one.
Security must be a core component of product development from the outset, especially when building systems that handle sensitive personal information. Communities that already face higher levels of surveillance, harassment, and violence are particularly vulnerable to harm when digital platforms fail to protect them.
Key elements of a secure infrastructure include:
These features should not be aspirational goals. They are essential safeguards for any software that handles user data.
There is a persistent myth in tech that security can wait until after a product achieves market traction. That mindset puts people at risk. If your product claims to be safe, secure, or inclusive, those qualities must be supported by technical integrity from the start.
Tea’s developers may have had good intentions. But good intentions alone do not protect users. A product’s ethical stance is only as strong as its technical execution.
It would be a mistake to let this breach discourage future efforts to create safe spaces for underrepresented communities. We need more platforms that are designed specifically for people who feel marginalized or unsafe on mainstream digital services.
But building such platforms requires more than thoughtful branding or UX. It requires a backend that prioritizes privacy, security, and user agency. Trust is not earned through mission statements. It is earned through resilient, transparent systems.
The breach at Tea was not caused by bad actors inside the company. It was the result of a cultural devaluation of infrastructure within fast-moving startup environments. In a world where trust and safety are integral to a platform’s purpose, security architecture is not optional.
No matter how aligned your mission is with your users’ values, infrastructure must be treated as a pillar of care. You cannot rely on aesthetics, branding, or community to fill in for missing security practices. You have to build safety into the system itself—because in many cases, it is the difference between care and harm.
