A UK researcher used artificial intelligence to find a password for Applebee's customer database hidden inside the restaurant chain's Android app, which has more than one million downloads, exposing customers' names, birth dates and veteran status.
Applebee's · Mobile app security
A hidden password in Applebee's Android app exposed customer records
A UK researcher used AI tools to find a database credential embedded in the app, which has more than one million Android downloads. The exposed data included customers' names, birth dates and veteran status.
1M+
Android downloads of the affected app
3
Types of personal data exposed: names, birth dates, veteran status
0
Signs of unauthorised access reported by the company, which has not said whether it keeps access logs
How the exposure happened
STEP 1
Credential placed in app code
→
STEP 2
AI tools locate the password
→
STEP 3
Customer database accessible
→
STEP 4
Names, birth dates and veteran status visible
What the company says
It has seen no sign of unauthorised access to the database.
The app has been downloaded more than one million times on Android.
What remains unclear
Whether access logs exist to confirm that claim.
Who, if anyone, viewed or copied the data.
How the password was secured or changed.
Whether affected customers will be notified.
The broader risk
Anything shipped inside an app can be extracted by anyone who downloads it
Developers sometimes embed sensitive credentials directly in app code.
Security researchers have long warned about this practice.
AI lowers the effort needed to search for such weaknesses, making them easier to find.
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