Ashley Madison (cheating / affair website) hacked

[Regulator75]

If you're a regular user of this site, your "secret" life might be made public.

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/07/o...adison-hacked/

Large caches of data stolen from online cheating site AshleyMadison.com have been posted online by an individual or group that claims to have completely compromised the company’s user databases, financial records and other proprietary information. The still-unfolding leak could be quite damaging to some 37 million users of the hookup service, whose slogan is “Life is short. Have an affair.”

Reached by KrebsOnSecurity late Sunday evening, ALM Chief Executive Noel Biderman confirmed the hack, and said the company was “working diligently and feverishly” to take down ALM’s intellectual property. Indeed, in the short span of 30 minutes between that brief interview and the publication of this story, several of the Impact Team’s Web links were no longer responding.

“We’re not denying this happened,” Biderman said. “Like us or not, this is still a criminal act.”

Besides snippets of account data apparently sampled at random from among some 40 million users across ALM’s trio of properties, the hackers leaked maps of internal company servers, employee network account information, company bank account data and salary information.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

NEEEEERDS

No but seriously, none of this is your business, nerds.

[CroFlames]

37 million users. That is pretty crazy that 37 million people use a web service to cheat on a spouse.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

37 million users. That is pretty crazy that 37 million people use a web service to cheat on a spouse.

http://ottawacitizen.com/storyline/h...er-base-Ottawa

In Ottawa, a city with a population of about 883,000 (metro 1.3 million), there were 189,810 reported Ashley Madison users. In second-place Calgary, a city of about 988,000 (metro 1.4 million), there were 165,218 people seeking extra-marital fun. And in Edmonton, population of just over 730,000 (metro 1.3 million), there were 141,504

[corporatejay]

How many users "pose" as married? Like do you have to verify your marital status on the website to gain access?

[Senator Clay Davis]

37 million users is kinda not believable. The real number is at least half as few once all the fake/spam accounts are deleted. Obviously still sort of mind boggling people would actually submit real information to a website devoted to cheating. Cheating, in theory, is supposed to be about avoiding getting caught, not leaving a digital trail showcasing your cheating.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Still, 165,000? Gotta be a few CP members on there... fess up, gentlemen!

I just don't understand what the impetus for this is. Are there super self-righteous moralistic hackers out there who object in principle to the very concept of infidelity so strongly they'd be willing to commit criminal offenses?

It just seems more likely that it's your stereotypical maladjusted geeks in a basement somewhere trying to make themselves feel powerful.

[GirlySports]

Is it strictly for married people looking for other married people or for single people looking for a married person or vice versa. ie. a married women looking for a young guy.

[Kjesse]

I read another article which said the hackers are making this threat because the company also had a service where they would scrub your profile from public view and their private databases for a fee. It turns out that even those who paid the fee had their profiles remain on the database.

This smells of justice no matter what happens next.

[Roast Beef]

I hope the hackers release the info. The fallout from that would be hilarious.

[Daradon]

The 'cheating' angle of this story strikes me as so stupid and overblown. They just market themselves as a affair website. Really a person can sign up on any dating site to find some strange. I don't think you have to prove your married. In fact, that wouldn't make sense for a couple reasons. Married people often cheat on their partners with single people. And what are they going to ask you to do, scan a wedding certificate?

Just like some sites advertise and 'cater' to different religions, different age groups, etc., I'm sure this one just markets to married people. It's probably more about marketing than actual philosophy. A way to stick out in the crowd. There's a lot of ways to cheat, and actually, if I was going to, I don't think I would go to the one that advertises to cheaters. That actually seems kinda dumb. Interested parties could just put up a profile and find out.

Unless there is some system to the site I don't know about that prevents people from searching other partners. But how would a dating site like that operate?

As for the security aspect, and data scrubbing aspects, those are more interesting to me.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Is it strictly for married people looking for other married people or for single people looking for a married person or vice versa. ie. a married women looking for a young guy.

It's everything, ya.

If the hackers' intentions are to stop the immorality of infidelity, I think 37 million people are not just going to stop that practice because this site was hacked. A market that size doesn't just fade out of existence. People want to cheat, they will find ways.

It's just a ploy to show what they can do. Attacking a site where people's privacy is the main reason to join up makes sense to create a bit of a panic, but I just hate how they think they're standing on some moral high ground. Pretty sure there was plenty of cheating going on before Ashley Madison. And there will be plenty whether it continues to exist or not.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

NEEEEERDS

No but seriously, none of this is your business, nerds.

So you wanted someone to fess up.. Maybe you should get the ball rolling?

Maybe you've had multiple accounts, like here!

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Is it strictly for married people looking for other married people or for single people looking for a married person or vice versa. ie. a married women looking for a young guy.

Try CougarLife...

[polak]

I'd bet that many many many many users on there are not married or in a relationship at all.

The people who are married are obviously looking for no strings attached fun. You think only married people would take advantage of that?

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by chemgear

http://ottawacitizen.com/storyline/h...er-base-Ottawa

In Ottawa, a city with a population of about 883,000 (metro 1.3 million), there were 189,810 reported Ashley Madison users. In second-place Calgary, a city of about 988,000 (metro 1.4 million), there were 165,218 people seeking extra-marital fun. And in Edmonton, population of just over 730,000 (metro 1.3 million), there were 141,504

That can't possibly be correct. According to Stats Canada, in 2011, there were 240,000 married couple families in the Calgary metro area, for a total of 480,000 married persons. I cannot believe that ~30% of those married persons had an account at Ashley Madison.

[Bill Bumface]

I'm sure 80% of their accounts are 16 year old dudes hoping to get to prowl some profile pictures.

[Daradon]

Usually those numbers mean 37 million profiles or accounts. But a fraction of those are active within a recent time frame. Plus some are fakes, and redundant of course. People making a second or third for a variety of reasons.

I mean what, 100 million people tried WOW, but it only peaked at 12 million or so at a time? And is less now of course.

[burn_this_city]

Pretty sure I read somewhere that a lot of accounts were fakes written by a handful of people.

[undercoverbrother]

God Damn It.