Ashley Madison might want to rethink their homepage. The site that describes itself as, “the world’s leading married dating service for discreet encounters” and boasts multiple security certifications has been proven both indiscreet and insecure after its user data was pillaged and dumped onto the dark web for all to see. Well, ‘all’ being those who actually know how to access this dark web and shift through the 9.7 gigabytes of data (i.e. not us).
Those clever enough to access and analyse the data have claimed the email database alone includes 36 million records, and among those records are 15,019 accounts using either a .mil or .gov email address and many other work-related email addresses. We thought setting up a separate email for this kind of activity would be step one, but it seems we were giving these adulterers a little too much credit.
In addition, the data is said to include seven years worth of payment transaction details going back to 2007. Credit cards are shown as only four digits as the site did seem to at least have some pretty solid security around its user’s account details.
Hacking group ‘Impact Team’ are the ones behind the expose, and it didn’t come without warning. Last month the group threatened parent company Avid Life Media with the data dump, saying they would refrain from releasing it only if Ashley Madison and another site called Established Men, which pairs older men with young women, was shut down.
Believing the threat to be a hoax, ALM left Ashely Madison and Established Men live, cheaters continued to cheat, and older men continued to hook up with young women. Staying true to their promise (unlike those whose data has been revealed) Impact Group let the data out into the world with the message,
“Avid Life Media has failed to take down Ashley Madison and Established Men. We have explained the fraud, deceit, and stupidity of ALM and their members. Now everyone gets to see their data.
Find someone you know in here? Keep in mind the site is a scam with thousands of fake female profiles. See ashley madison fake profile lawsuit; 90-95% of actual users are male. Chances are your man signed up on the world’s biggest affair site, but never had one. He just tried to. If that distinction matters.
Find yourself in here? It was ALM that failed you and lied to you. Prosecute them and claim damages. Then move on with your life. Learn your lesson and make amends. Embarrassing now, but you’ll get over it.”
After the leak, ALM group continued to deny the data dump was real — Chief Technology Officer Raja Bhatia gave an interview to tech blogger Brian Krebs claiming, “for the most part it looks illegitimate and many of the files aren’t even readable.”
Early this morning, however, the site went back on its claims and confirmed the data was legitimate when Paul Keable, Avid Life spokesman, said in an email, “There has been a substantial amount of postings since the initial posting, the vast majority of which have contained data unrelated to AshleyMadison.com, but there has also been some data released that is legitimate.” He did continue to assure, “Furthermore, we can confirm that we do not – nor ever have – store credit card information on our servers.”
Whether this is the ultimate act of revenge for a lover scorned by an Ashley Madison devotee, an attention-grabbing move from a hacking group, or just the modern day protest is yet to be known, but what we do know is this story is far from over. There’s still a lot of email addresses, names, and profiles to sift through including, “many rich and powerful people” according to Impact Team. Stay tuned.