Conservative ministers' private contact details exposed by major flaw in party conference app

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• Major flaw in the Conservative party conference app lets users login without passwords to the accounts of hundreds of Conservative MPs, journalists and other attendees.
• Users were able to login into the accounts, view private contact details, amend them and make them public.
• The loophole was closed over an hour after it was first spotted on social media.
• The Conservative party has been contacted for comment.

LONDON - A major design flaw in the Conservative party's conference app for mobile phones has given users access to the contact details of hundreds of government ministers, MPs and prominent journalists.

Theresa May's Conservatives are set to gather in Birmingham, England tomorrow for its annual autumn conference, with the party's most senior figures set to attend the four-day event.

However, it emerged on Saturday that the mobile phone app created for conference goers had a major security flaw that allowed users to look at the contact details of attendees, including those of very senior politicians.

The loophole, now rectified, allowed anyone who downloaded the app to log in to the personal profiles of politicians including former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and ministers like Philip Hammond and Michael Gove.

Twitter users have reported being able to change the personal details of senior politicians. The contact details of Conservative MPs, party members, and prominent journalists could also be seen.

Business Insider has contacted the Conservative party for comment.

Guardian columnist Dawn Foster, was one of the first people to notice to design flaw. She tweeted: "FFS, the Tory conference app allows you to login as other people and view their contact details just with their email address, no emailed security links, and post comments as them."

"They've essentially made every journalist, politician and attendee's mobile number public. Fantastic."

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