In today's age of technological advancement, you'd hope that would also mean advanced privacy. Well, you're wrong. While the hacking of Ashley Madison (a dating website that helps married couples cheat on their spouses) may just seem like bad karma, it's also a real wake up call to be careful about what you share about yourself on the world wide web.
On Monday, the "Life is short, have an affair" website declared that it had in fact been hacked and had data stolen from it. The thing about hackers is that they aren't exactly known for being slow to speak. While it hasn't been too easy to find the exposed cheating members online (yay?), that could last as short as their mantra if the website isn't shut down. The site claims to have 37 million members and has been open about its superb data security. Awkward.
CNN Money reported that the hackers call themselves the "Impact Team," and the potential release includes "profiles with all the customer's secret sexual fantasies and matching credit card transactions, real names and addresses, and employee documents and emails."
For a steal at 19 dollars, you can have your profile completely erased from the internet and any extra data. And even keep your marriage intact! It's almost too good to be true. This is what is making it hard for the hackers to use any gathered information as blackmail. This information mainly includes real names and addresses, which is the primary info users want removed. One of the top IT security systems have been hired to work on the breach. This industry screams opportunity for blackmail, so while this is breaking news, it also isn't too surprising that hackers would target the website.
The bigger lesson to be learned in all this is that no website can ultimately guarantee your privacy. We've seen this exemplified not just with Ashley Madison, but several other sites. Even the federal government! Credit card data, Social Security Numbers, personal records and fingerprints, don't expect info you give to companies to stay a secret forever. Especially not a website that helps you cheat on your spouse. You really had that coming to you.
(Facts taken from http://www.cnn.com)
