Before last week Ashley Madison was just known as the websites for cheating spouses. Now it seems like someone was scorned, and they went on a manhunt. Roughly 30 million registered user emails, out of the 37 million clients of the site, have been released online over the past week.
While some of the emails have been linked to high profile individuals (Josh Duggar, YouTuber Sam Rader, and more), there are also multiple emails that cannot be traced. The website does not require users to verify their email, so some people used fake ones to stay anonymous. Even for those users that have deleted their accounts, including the paid-delete option, their emails might still be identified.
The cyber-attackers known as “Impact Team" have claimed responsibility for the data dump. Before the release they attempted to blackmail Ashley Madison’s owners saying that they are “deceitful” and “incompetent.” Ashley Madison refused to give into demands to shut down their website, whose slogan is “Life is short. Have an affair.”
Noel Biderman, a chief executive at the company, told Brian Krebs that the data dump could possibly be an inside job. He does not believe that it was an employee, but perhaps a contracted worker for the company. Ashley Madison and their parent company Avid Life Media have offered $500,000 Canadian dollars, equivalent to $376,000 USD, for any information that leads to an identification, arrest and prosecution of those responsible.
The company also released a statement saying, "In the very best interest of our customers, who have been affected by this malicious act, we are firmly committed to fully assisting these law enforcement and investigative authorities, without reserve.”
In the mean time, though, it is almost impossible for police to disable the websites that are storing the leaked data. The sites are operating as Tor "Hidden Services." According to The Guardian these sites can only be accessed through anonymous browsers.
Since the data was published, multiple firms have filed lawsuits against Ashley Madison, who claim "data as an asset that must be protected against loss and unauthorized access.” A class-action lawsuit was filed in Canada, where Ashley Madison is based. Charney Lawyers and Sutts, Strosberg LLP filed suit against Avid Life Media for $760 million CAD (approximately $573 million USD) on behalf of the Canadian users that were affected.
American-based consumers are also expected to be filing federal and class-action suits. A St. Louis woman filed a federal suit against Avid Life Media when she found her email released. She claims that she paid a $19 fee to have her profile permanently deleted. A Dallas-based law firm, Schmidt Law Firm, published a statement on their website that they are accepting plaintiffs from all 50 states to participate in a class-action suit.
Despite the wide scale of this hack, and similar ones over the past few years, individuals are still unaware of how their online habits can affect their day-to-day life. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance everything that is online is in its own universe. They do offer tips for having better security, but there is no definitive way to protect your online information unless you avoid using the Internet.
