Uh Oh: Ashley Madison Hacked, Info Stolen For 37 Million Accounts

Uh Oh: Ashley Madison Hacked, Info Stolen For 37 Million Accounts

You won’t find Ashley Madison on any collections of Lifehacker recommendations (except maybe for Evil Week). However, the site aimed at helping people in existing relationships have an affair has been hacked, with 37 million users’ data stolen. Worse yet, that data’s currently being held for ransom.

[credit provider=”Ashley Madison” url=”https://www.ashleymadison.com/”]

AshleyMadison — tagline “Life Is Short. Have An Affair” — is an online site that facilitates cheating among its 37 million users. According to security site Krebs on Security, the site’s parent company Avid Life Media suffered a security breach at the hands of a hacker group calling itself the Impact Team. The group is currently holding data on 37 million of Avid Life Media’s users for ransom, demanding that Ashley Madison, as well as sister-site Established Men, be taken offline permanently.

The personal data stolen includes real names, financial records and private details for users of the site. While the data has not yet been revealed to the public, a small sample data set was initially released before being taken offline.

Avid Life Media released a statement saying that it has secured the unauthorised access points and is currently working with law enforcement to identify the perpetrators of the attack and prevent the data from being released. It’s unclear whether there’s anything users can do to protect their accounts. If you use the site and your spouse doesn’t know, that’s your cue to start panicking.

Online Cheating Site AshleyMadison Hacked [Krebs on Security]


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