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.”
The data released by the hacker or hackers — which self-identify as The Impact Team — includes sensitive internal data stolen from Avid Life Media (ALM), the Toronto-based firm that owns AshleyMadison as well as related hookup sites Cougar Life and Established Men.
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.
The compromise comes less than two months after intruders stole and leaked online user data on millions of accounts from hookup site AdultFriendFinder.
In a long manifesto posted alongside the stolen ALM data, The Impact Team said it decided to publish the information in response to alleged lies ALM told its customers about a service that allows members to completely erase their profile information for a $19 fee.
According to the hackers, although the “full delete” feature that Ashley Madison advertises promises “removal of site usage history and personally identifiable information from the site,” users’ purchase details — including real name and address — aren’t actually scrubbed.
“Full Delete netted ALM $1.7mm in revenue in 2014. It’s also a complete lie,” the hacking group wrote. “Users almost always pay with credit card; their purchase details are not removed as promised, and include real name and address, which is of course the most important information the users want removed.”
Their demands continue:
“Avid Life Media has been instructed to take Ashley Madison and Established Men offline permanently in all forms, or we will release all customer records, including profiles with all the customers’ secret sexual fantasies and matching credit card transactions, real names and addresses, and employee documents and emails. The other websites may stay online.”
A snippet of the message left behind by the Impact Team.
It’s unclear how much of the AshleyMadison user account data has been posted online. For now, it appears the hackers have published a relatively small percentage of AshleyMadison user account data and are planning to publish more for each day the company stays online.
“Too bad for those men, they’re cheating dirtbags and deserve no such discretion,” the hackers continued. “Too bad for ALM, you promised secrecy but didn’t deliver. We’ve got the complete set of profiles in our DB dumps, and we’ll release them soon if Ashley Madison stays online. And with over 37 million members, mostly from the US and Canada, a significant percentage of the population is about to have a very bad day, including many rich and powerful people.”
ALM CEO Biderman declined to discuss specifics of the company’s investigation, which he characterized as ongoing and fast-moving. But he did suggest that the incident may have been the work of someone who at least at one time had legitimate, inside access to the company’s networks — perhaps a former employee or contractor.
“We’re on the doorstep of [confirming] who we believe is the culprit, and unfortunately that may have triggered this mass publication,” Biderman said. “I’ve got their profile right in front of me, all their work credentials. It was definitely a person here that was not an employee but certainly had touched our technical services.”
As if to support this theory, the message left behind by the attackers gives something of a shout out to ALM’s director of security.
“Our one apology is to Mark Steele (Director of Security),” the manifesto reads. “You did everything you could, but nothing you could have done could have stopped this.”
Several of the leaked internal documents indicate ALM was hyper aware of the risks of a data breach. In a Microsoft Excel document that apparently served as a questionnaire for employees about challenges and risks facing the company, employees were asked “In what area would you hate to see something go wrong?”
Trevor Stokes, ALM’s chief technology officer, put his worst fears on the table: “Security,” he wrote. “I would hate to see our systems hacked and/or the leak of personal information.”
In the wake of the AdultFriendFinder breach, many wondered whether AshleyMadison would be next. As the Wall Street Journal noted in a May 2015 brief titled “Risky Business for AshleyMadison.com,” the company had voiced plans for an initial public offering in London later this year with the hope of raising as much as $200 million.
“Given the breach at AdultFriendFinder, investors will have to think of hack attacks as a risk factor,” the WSJ wrote. “And given its business’s reliance on confidentiality, prospective AshleyMadison investors should hope it has sufficiently, er, girded its loins.”
Update, 8:58 a.m. ET: ALM has released the following statement about this attack:
“We were recently made aware of an attempt by an unauthorized party to gain access to our systems. We immediately launched a thorough investigation utilizing leading forensics experts and other security professionals to determine the origin, nature, and scope of this incident.”
“We apologize for this unprovoked and criminal intrusion into our customers’ information. The current business world has proven to be one in which no company’s online assets are safe from cyber-vandalism, with Avid Life Media being only the latest among many companies to have been attacked, despite investing in the latest privacy and security technologies.”
“We have always had the confidentiality of our customers’ information foremost in our minds, and have had stringent security measures in place, including working with leading IT vendors from around the world. As other companies have experienced, these security measures have unfortunately not prevented this attack to our system.”
“At this time, we have been able to secure our sites, and close the unauthorized access points. We are working with law enforcement agencies, which are investigating this criminal act. Any and all parties responsible for this act of cyber–terrorism will be held responsible.”
“Avid Life Media has the utmost confidence in its business, and with the support of leading experts in IT security, including Joel Eriksson, CTO, Cycura, we will continue to be a leader in the services we provide. “I have worked with leading companies around the world to secure their businesses. I have no doubt, based on the work I and my company are doing, Avid Life Media will continue to be a strong, secure business,” Eriksson said.”
Why the DMCA takedown is pretty much smoke and mirrors…
http://fortune.com/2015/07/21/in-ashley-madison-hack-copyright-solution-is-worse-than-no-solution/
Foremost thanks to Mr. kreb for his contribution. As an ardent pyschology student/writer with Mumbai University, India.. thanking my stars with such websites being unaccessible due to IP restriction/protocols where I live!
I bet an estimate 37 million Ashley Madison users may have gone hypochondriac simply reading this section. Popped out eyes scanning on unknown group of vigilante ‘The Impact Team’, again and again, quite anxiously. And why wouldn’t they? Subscribers with devious hook up sites which faciliate infidelity and above all, poison raw minds?
Rationalists may pat on your hunch backs… acknowledging this whistle blowing antic in naming the ‘rich and powerful’ to ‘educated unemployed’ in right way. Whereas, Humorists may churn out natural sequence of weird emotions happening inside American/Canadian homes today … lol! (and hacker’s clinking glasses of wine)!
However, I wish ‘The Impact Team’ reconsider the threat’s issued simply because sole motive in ‘releasing all profiles’ sounds a bit ‘extreme’, maybe even ‘desperate’ Act which
clearly doesn’t match statement of intent. Nothing can dislodge reality friends. Indulgents in vices practically exist (and existed, shall exist) everywhere and not just virtually. Certain travel hot spots have overtime gained notorious name for sex tourism whereas high to low end pubs–bars–passenger cruiseships– film industry remain traditional zones in eyes of skirt chasers.
I take, Western countries where web development systems (like ALM, Toronto) offer goods/services also pay regular tax? If governments are earning via atrocious activities (including porn parodies), than what’s this brouhaha all about? Ashley Madison or its affiliates such as Fling, AFF, Cougar Life etc have yet not cheated its client. Whereas user’s details (name,address) may exist for verification purpose only…?
In today’s time, it takes awhile in scanning somebody’s intention because in such moments of weakness, one is very vulnerably exposed and can be taken advantage of. For instance, what if he/she is luring me to secure financial gains..? As foreigner, what if he/she’s seeking sponsorship- green card entry in my nation..? Does concerned person have mental issue or fixated upon certain fetish..? And if they were former Ex-cons, Liars, Petty thieves, Black listed persons, loan
defaulters… what then? Considering these logical inputs, i wonder how people even have flings anymore!
Many hackers’ worldwide, have considered this David vs Goliath battle with fling- hook up sites since time immemorial but were ‘very wise’, in backing out in first hour itself. ‘Impact Team’ isn’t the first or last bunch of ‘heroes’ in doing so. What this immature group has pitched isn’t just haphazard, with incorrect perspective it is unachievable and bound to backfire drastically. Scenario appears backed up by moral policing and judgmental thinking, more than anything else.
Distressed users shouldn’t be afraid of such revelation. Barking dogs seldom bite. Of what I have read into, half of thirty seven million users are swingers, who are too self assured in putting brave face, even if humiliating pink slip goes through. Rich people have lawyer’s backed up and it doesn’t even make for criminal/civil offence if name’s are realized? Conclusively, it’s a road block ‘Impact Team’ won’t implore upon and will timely waive white flag that would read
‘N-I..N-I…Negative Impact!’
Does anyone know the transaction description ALM uses when processing a payment?
Quit being all puritanical people. Everyone contemplates cheating a few times in the course of a marriage, and really who cares what anyone else things. These hackers committed a federal crime no matter how you slice it, and my guess is that they did a lousy job of covering their tracks. One of them will be caught, questioned, forced to finger his accomplices, and eventually the whole gang will go down. Wait six months. It will happen. I pay a lot of attention to these crimes, and this is how it goes down. Also the most AM members are in Washington D.C. which necessarily means it includes people in government, law enforcement and politics. This is automatically a high-priority case for the FBI…..the hackers really f-ed up on this.
Adultery is also criminal offense in 23 states in some it is a felony punishable by years in prison and thousands of dollars.
Once the files get dumped in multiple places, in foreign countries across the web, it will be impossible to undo it regardless of if they catch the hackers or not.
Think the feds didn’t want to stop Snowden or Bradley Manning? We all see how well that worked out.
http://info.legalzoom.com/legal-actions-adultery-20721.html
From your own link:
“Adultery is generally a misdemeanor in states that recognize it as criminal wrongdoing; however, such criminal statutes are rarely invoked.”
It also used to be illegal for a white person to marry a black person and for any person to perform sodomy, so your “…It’s illegal in 23 states…” remark is exceedingly lame.
A couple of problems with your analysis, Joe.
First, regardless of state statutes regarding adultery, computer hacking is a Federal felony. That means FBI, MI5, CSIS and yes, our good friends at the NSA are already cooperating in the search for the hackers. Ignore a hack that devastates the privacy of some 37 million people because they may or may not have been involved in a crime that no DA in his right mind would try prosecute? Not likely.
Snowden? Facing a minimum of 30 years under the Espionage Act if captured or extradited. (No trial by jury, either.)
Manning? Incarcerated. 35 years in Club Fed.
Not the best examples, regardless of whatever good may have come of their actions.
Adultery is a misdemeanor in a few states, but the statute hasn’t been enforced in decades. The data theft and blackmail are both felonies, and the hackers will most certainly be caught and imprisoned.
Everyone? I suspect there are more besides me for whom your blanket statement is incorrect.
I’ll just leave this here:
http://www.troyhunt.com/2015/07/your-affairs-were-never-discrete-ashley.html?m=1
Spot on.
Right now, conversations are happening, markers are being called in and a lot of powerful machinery is being brought to bear very quietly.
The hardest thing to keep is a secret. Somewhere, someone is going to get a little drunk, a little scared or just want to impress someone. One slightly careless comment is all that’s needed.
Hacking a site like this and making exposure threats isn’t stupid, it’s epic stupid.
Really, who cares if they’re caught. It’s a private site so they know it’s something they prob shouldn’t be doing. If that’s the life you want to lead then why keep it secret…Grow some balls!
Moralists- If you think this is some sort of victory to tout your horn to, you are wrong. If this site crumbles, another one will quickly take its place, and build even stronger defenses from the experience of this fallen site. The money to be made in this type of dating website is enormous, and as long as there is money to be made, there will be folks trying to make it an opportunity. So, what do you care? As long as they aren’t hurting you by cheating on your wife or husband, then let other folks live as they wish and stop interfering in their private lives.
illegal/crime where, and for whom? in the US and against a US server is a cfaa violation. in Ukraine? not so much.
illegal/crime where, and for whom? in the US and against a US server is a cfaa violation. in Ukraine? hosted where? maybe not so much. in any case there’s no such thing as a right to privacy except to the FTC, see point 1.
All you that think that releasing all of that information is AOK are missing a huge point. The fact that someone became a member of AM does not correlate to the fact that a person cheated. There is no direct link – period. So all other considerations excluded (and there are many others), there is no justification for stealing and extorting and damaging the lives of countless individuals, their spouses and their children and their consorts. Your moral position is utterly indefensible simply because there is no direct provable connection between AM membership and infidelity. None whatsoever. So you all ought to be bloody ashamed of yourselves for lumping 37 million people into one “you deserve what you get” righteous condemnation. What you are doing is far more odious than you realize; but them, religious zealots rarely take the raft out of their own eye first.
That’s right, blame religion. Probably Christianity is at the top of the list.
Did you ever stop to think that maybe the hackers are female or do you think that females are too stupid to hack?
They could very well be female, but it’s irrelevant. They have no problem with certain sites remaining open, so their moral posturing is false. They fully intend to sell the data for profit. They’ll get caught soon enough, and I doubt any data posted will be up long enough for many people to view.
There are probably a bunch of users who signed up out of curiosity, a rough time, maybe thinking about being unfaithful, etc etc to “test the waters” and then after visiting the sight came to their senses and never actually cheated. The one size fits all condemnation of everyone could harm a lot of people who weren’t thinking straight but ultimately made the right decision not to cheat. Stupid yes, but worth exposing ? Kind of becoming a thought police state in a way with hackers at the wheel. Imagine if every time someone thought about but didn’t hook up with someone they met on a business trip or whatever got outed for merely considering being stupid.
Still a matter of exposure by the website because they did not follow the contract they entered, the damage should follow the corporate practice that abrogates the contract. Anyone not wishing to have their data left to the hands of others could have been honored, and the site even took money, thus the damages caused are their fault. But for their voluntary failure the hack would not have harmed those who asked for their info to be deleted.
So they illegally access a website, that is not at all illegal- commit another crime by stealing personal information… then they commit a third crime blackmailing the company with personal information or they will commit a 4th crime in releasing financial information they already stole.
And they are taking the moral high ground here?
If you kill someone who is attempting murder, and you kill them to prevent loss of life, can you take a moral high ground?
Yes the broke the law, but their intent is honest enough, they want the site taken down. This is the most likely mode of success.
Nope. Theyre in it for the money they can make selling the data, especially the cc info. The more posts they make, the better their chances of getting caught. Im betting very little data actually gets posted.
Hi Brian.
Nothing like a salacious story to bring out the Moral Majority! Your post is well on its way to topping your list of ‘Most Popular Posts’, exceeding the Target Data Breach.
I actually work in infosec and am more concerned about the security side of this story. Do you have any updates regarding new spam or phishing scams resulting from this? Do I need to warn my end users not to click on links or open attachments that look like they are related to the AM data breach? Yes, I can imagine an executive thinking he/she is being blackmailed and opening an attachment.
As always, thanks for the great reporting. 🙂
This is a security blog, not an ethics blog. I would suggest those that want to debate the morality of the hack or being on the site itself go find a more suitable forum. Nearly 600 comments and only a few relate to back to the intent of this site without bad info. Btw, the info was never released on github, that is just more bad info being parroted. It was released on gitlab. It is worth noting if they wanted the sample spread far and why they would have released it to several repos and probably also p2p.
Because they didn’t it is now more clear that they wanted just enough of a blip so the media would report a leak, but without nearly anyone actually getting a hold of it.
Seeing they are late on their promise to release more info each day it is becoming a safer bet it will never be publically leaked. That’s better news for the members, but it means the chance of their info being sold to extortion rings is higher.
I’m convinced whoever is behind it is looking to sell the dump now. It doesn’t make sense to for the group to post their demands as a omnipotent force and then not fulfill and go quiet unless it was more about creating hype than taking down the site. Or maybe they really are just script kiddies that wetting themselves after AM declared they knew who did it. As if there was actionable proof not being actioned.
Reading the comments I cannot believe some of the closed mindidness of some and outright rooting for criminal behavior. Very few things in life are black and white, but one thing that is certain is the hacker(s) have committed a serious crime which could have far reaching impact. Sometimes people need to hear a real story to personalize the issue so here is mine.
To make an extremely long story short, I created an AM account a few years back and it lead to having an affair with a married woman (btw lots of comments about cheating men, but who do you think they were with). Eventually my wife found out and of course it crushed her. More than anything I wish I could go back in time and not do what I did, but I can’t and I have had to live with putting my wife through hell. After some very shaky times she and I have stayed together and in many respects our marriage is better now than it was before.
So again this happened a few years ago, my wife is fully aware and we have worked hard for a while now to keep our marriage intact.
So for all you rightous people out there cheering on this hack. What good would come of my awful behaviour coming to light? Embarassing my wife? My kids? I am a big boy who will own up to what I have done but at this point what is the point of the havoc that will come to my family? Reopening a wound in a very public way could very well end in a divorce and broken family that did not have to happen.
Again I am not trying to deflect. I was dead wrong in my actions. But as we are taught early on. Two wrongs to not make a right.
Proceed with the name calling.
You might want to thank God and your wife for staying with you and strengthening your marriage instead of it falling apart.
I wasn’t as fortunate as you were. But then again it was my wife cheating, not once or twice and perhaps more.
As a result, she went off with the guy and destroyed the lives of my two daughters who have to deal with this the rest of their lives.
Still, I encouraged them to forgive their mother and open the lines of communication with her. But she made me out to be a monster for the rest of her short life.
This is not a “no one gets hurt, why are you judging?” kind of crime. It happens in Christian homes as much if not more than secular homes, but lives are damaged.
Small wonder why in The Bible God says “I hate divorce, for you wear it like a garment of violence.”
And if you see how many spouses both male and female have been killed because of this, it’s plain for all but the deluded to see that divorce does breed violence.
I’m glad that you and your wonderful wife are working things out. You married one heck of a woman!
“What good would come of my awful behaviour coming to light? Embarassing my wife? My kids? I am a big boy who will own up to what I have done but at this point what is the point of the havoc that will come to my family? Reopening a wound in a very public way could very well end in a divorce and broken family that did not have to happen. ”
It didn’t bother you when you were screwing the other missus. If you don’t care how you damage your family, why should other people do so for you. Glad you learned your lesson though.
I think the bigger focus here should be that the site charged users a fee to remove their info, then DIDN’T DO THAT!
To me that’s the real issue, not the cheating or attempted cheating or the fact that the data was stolen. The fact is the data should not have been there to steal due to user’s paying for data removal.
Site should be taken offline. Doesn’t matter if another site will pop up, maybe they’ll learn and actually perform the service a user pays for.
$19 x 37 million = $$$$$$$
Hmmm; 500+ and climbing. Reckon you can hit the 1,000 mark, Brian?
I sort of hope not at this point. The conversation here has devolved into a pretty nasty mess.
Well, it’s all over the Australian media now, and even featured in the Sydney Morning Herald under your byline (http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/consumer-security/online-cheating-site-ashleymadison-hacked-20150720-gigpi7.html); well done! Interesting that up to a million Australians could be affected, so I’m not sure what they’re putting in the water here…
The hackers did something wrong, but we all must remember that for years AM has been the instrument that millions of individuals have used to commit adultery. Both are wrong.The unseen, whom we don’t believe in has and will judge both.
The hackers did something wrong, but we all must remember that for years AM has been the instrument that millions of individuals have used to commit adultery. Both are wrong.The unseen, whom we don’t believe in has and will judge both.
You people disgust me. I can’t believe how many morally bankrupt and malicious people there are. Let me say that I applaud this hacker collective’s efforts, and I sincerely hope they follow through on their threats should their demands fail to be met. Cheaters need to be exposed for the filthy, rotten, sneaky pieces of shit that they are. In the ensuing chaos of account information leaks, I hope there are some murder-suicides, to really show people what cheating does.
I feel your pain Tarriq, but violence will not end divorce or infidelity, only strengthen it.
No one has the moral high ground on this. This all goes to show what a fallen world this is, and it’s not going to get any better.
And no one’s going to clean up the internet either. People will continue their paths, and eventually one has to “pay to play.”
Dude, you are one sick puppy. Please, get some professional help.
So, Tariq, you like criminals and you like crime as long as it is committed against people you don’t like. Are you aware that that is what you are saying?
If they would only publish the records for members of congress they would be hailed as saints or heroes, maybe we could even get some of the bums kicked out of office or at least not elect them again 🙂
I’ve read all the comments above and now it’s time to put in my 2 cents. You guys that are taking the stand that no one was hurt and that it’s all private and we should just stay the heck out of others business are really fooling yourselves. Just think of what you are really doing here. Human civilization exists and can be considered to be civilized because we have rules and let’s admit it, some of those rules are morally based. Without rules and morals, we would be living in an animal like world, which is really based on survival of the fittest. I hate to think who would be here today if only the fittest would be allowed to survive. In this case, rich and powerful people only. Do you really think these people that run such companies have any consideration of what the world will be like after they have made the trillions. We have to at least make some effort to keep things in check. AM and the like are merely exploiting what they know to be the vice and weaknsess of society and you are only helping propagate this behaviour. Although you think your children are not listening, they really are being impacted and they are the next generation. What about the committed and sincere spouses that these individuals are impacting because they make is so easy to cheat, when in fact if they just sat down with their spouses, things could be fixed. This is the inherent problem with the internet, it has the ability to bring similar minds together for the wrong reasons, as well as for good. Mankind doesn’t need a catastrophic natural disaster to wipe it out, we are doing just fine on our own and the internet is merely the catalyst.
So you’re trying to rationalize the commision of a few felonies to address an issue of morality? Really? Crimes are both illegal and immoral, and are totally unjustified.
first who cares what some one is doing in there life. if they chose to cheat go ahead not my problem. the problem in this country is that everyone belies that they are wright and everyone is wrong. they want the people to think there way not your way. this is where your problem is coming from.
as far as money that am has collected form people who cares its a business and if you submit to it then that’s your problem. how many men have been to a strip club? just about 95% of men have and still go. spending billions a year in strip clubs living out a dream and spending $$ on dances and lap dances. and if you say its not the same it is. strip clubs are the biggest whore houses in the industry. you can get layed in there so easy . and what about the Chinese massage parlors. so nothing is pure out here. do what ever you wish to do. just because you believe one way does not mean some one agrees with you. in life we are not always right
Seems to be a case of a business that failed to scale.
The key information is the real personal identifier link to supplied questionnaire information. Users don’t need real personal identifiers for others when doing searches, so the obvious place to put in partitioning as a first defense is the translation step [the point at which one needs to actually provide link information so that the users can meet or communicate]– choke that cryptographic translation to only a few ops/sec and the crackers would never get 37 million useful records.
Of course, some companies have to be low hanging security fruit, this seems to be one of them.
Brian, We should all thank the Lord that this wasn’t a hack against a Hillbilly Affair site… Then the rest of Jerry Springer clan would be on here commenting… 😉
(Full disclosure, I am from WV which would make me a Hillbilly. But my mom and dad can get divorced and they will still be brother and sister, so don’t JUDGE ME)
/s
Put your jimmies on the internet, and it WILL inevitably get out everywhere. The sooner people realize that, the better.
I just want to know where the list is. They supposedly released pieces of it, but where? Their threat is empty if no one is seeing it.
This makes an even stronger argument for Polyamory. If you all consent to non-monogamy, there’s no drama or worry. I’m enjoying my peaceful polyamory with my wife and 3 lovers.
Actually, this makes no such justification, but thanks anyway. Hey, I have an idea using similar logic. Let’s just make everything legal! That would reduce crime by 100%.
I’d love to pay these guys money to offer me that information!!! Since my husband of 12 years, father of my children, is to much of a coward to tell the truth, even after I busted him accidentally, after a very difficult/dangerous pregnancy, when our baby was 2 months old. Then at least I’d have some idea of who gave me and our unborn daughter (possibly son, was sharing Carmex, sodas, wouldn’t have thought it) Genital Warts, 2 types of HPV, Herpes, oh and thank God I tried to shut off baby lullaby music or I’d probably have AIDS as well. People know they have diseases, spread them, no protection, no care, etc. Scumbag husband even says oh she’s a nurse she wouldn’t. Duh dummy she’s on the site and gave you a blow job within 15 mins of meeting! She had them, even after me confronting her about it, she continued to spread her diseases to innocent victims and dummies on Ashley Madison! I had to make him go in my OBGYN office so he’d believe me and get treatment! I guess bumps all over your penis that wasn’t there 12 years ago just magically appear. Can you imagine surviving 5 Sexual Assaults in the military unscathed, to have all this happen?! Even at my Prenatal visits I asked the doctor about it, still didn’t stop my cowardly, scumbag of a husband, he didn’t even question it. At least then I could see the faces of those who gave me this (besides the scumbag) and has the audacity to make fun of Disabled Veteran’s (yes 1 that I found out about had a husband and I’m one as well, get out of your marriage if your that unhappy or say something cowards oh and neither of us are unable to have sex, they’re just cowards) and even go so far as to say cruel stuff about people’s kids cause they’re so jealous and insecure. My daughter could’ve died with warts in her throat! Thank God I didn’t have them visible during the vaginal birth, or she would be going thru nonstop painful surgeries, or I wouldn’t have been able to help her Cz I didn’t know. He’d have some really sneaky ways, to were I never thought it. Ya the scumbag even was texting, calling and meeting the old married fat cougar while we were at the hospital having our baby. She even was trying to convince him our baby was gonna be all screwed up. Dummy was with me at every Specialist etc, she’s perfect except from what her Daddy did. Try explaining that to her before she meets her 1st boyfriend, etc, innocent victims everyday! It’d make it harder for cowards to do this if there wasn’t sites to their catering. But I think it’s about time people are held accountable for their actions! Maybe they’d think twice and talk to their spouse instead of taking the cowards way out. Speaking of cowards I love how I seen all them text bad mouthing me and my babies, yet another coward whore was to big of a coward to even meet me or reply back (I was very decent and just wanted treatment for my baby and me, I didn’t ruin her family like they did mine, I’m a better person, even though her kids were closer to my age) so hell I’ll support the group but can’t find a way to do it. I just hope when they do, they make sure it’s up long enough for people to see, search zipcodes, emails, whatever, so other innocent victims don’t have the same thing if not worse happen to them. I mean a husband even found the phone, yet my husband didn’t care if he put our children in jeopardy and danger etc. I even paid for my cowardly husband to have a CCW, little did I know I was protecting him while he was infecting me and our unborn daughter with permanent, cancerous, painful STDs! I pray The Impact Team accomplishes this so that some of our prayers can be answered, and those of us who have already been thru hell, can get some closure. I thanked God last night, as a Disabled Veteran dealing with PTSD to begin with, while Serving our country, and no way to get any truth,closure, see the faces, conversations, etc. I was so grateful and hope they succeed! All I can say is thank you Jesus!
Congratulations! You win the incomprehensible rant of the year award! Despite your wishes, I seriously doubt this data ever gets posted. The more posts they make the better the chances of getting caught. Besides, they only want to sell the data. They couldnt care less about the AM site.
I just want to say!! I’m on the other side my husband cheated on me! And the out come of that was my 14 year old had a mental break down and couldn’t deal with life my 12 year old became unbearable with in his grief ! They where teen boys who could only get their fustration out with aggression ! And I had to take the brunt of it all I was left picking up the pieces of a broken home ,family and heart !! I had to make sure my children didn’t take there own life ! Let alone be stronger to keep myself together!! No one deserves to be cheated on !! If you feel the need to Cheat… Leave you are disgusting!! and have no right to be there if you don’t have self respect have respect for the ones you say you love your wife’s husbands and children !! I know my son that is 18 now struggles trusting any one he loves because of the one role model he loved and adored !! Please you may think nothing of this now because you haven’t been court but if you will destroy the life you say you love ,you will regret it!!
These websites promoting this disgusting behavior need to be shut down. Yeah it might be illegal what they are doing but if the website would just comply no lives would be ruined and no ones information would be released on the internet. We need groups like the Impact Team and Anonymous to keep the world in line. We can all agree to disagree but chances are if you are mad about this your probably a cheater or liar yourself. Good riddance.
I have really mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, of course it feels like just desserts for the jerks (and jerkettes) who have been using the site to cheat on their SOs. I also have to say the practice of charging for a full delete is pretty sleazy, borderline blackmail, so in that sense it’s nice to see a company engaged in such shady practices get screwed over a wee bit.
On the other hand, the collateral damage has the potential to be astounding. Remember, 37 million users has the potential to mean 37 million unwitting spouses, as well as however many children are involved as well. Just Googling someone’s name can bring up all sorts of info, such as addresses, family members’ names, etc. — and when the shady side of the Internet gets their hands on this info and starts doxxing people, a LOT of lives are going to be ruined. In fact, I’d say there’s a good chance that the innocent bystanders (spouses and kids) harmed by this will outnumber the cheaters themselves.
Ultimately, as much as I hate to say it, I think it would be best in the end if no info is leaked. Does that mean a lot of jerks get away with cheating? Yes, but I think the alternative is actually worse.
(No horse in this race, BTW, just trying to balance out the reprehensible behavior of the users with the pitchfork-crowd mob mentality that seems to have sprung up.)
Doesn’t matter. There was infidelity before AM and it will continue. In the unlikely event more data is posted, it won’t be up long enough to be widely viewed.
This is basically just a dating site right? I’m sure the ones in a relationship are also looking for someone who isn’t in one. 2 affairs at once sounds like way too much hard work. Add to that the fact most of them are no doubt men due to the sleaze factor and boom – you’re left with not a lot other than some dirty phone talk.
Anyways – hacking-wise. Well my opinion is it has to be an inside job if the following is true:
“the hackers leaked maps of internal company servers, employee network account information, company bank account data and salary information.”
A db hack is one thing, but internal network topology? That has to be inside knowledge.
Employee accounts? LDAP hack probably.
Company bank account/salary? Internal finance db which does not reside alongside customer data for sure
This is interesting too:
“Our one apology is to Mark Steele (Director of Security),” the manifesto reads. “You did everything you could, but nothing you could have done could have stopped this.”
He certainly could not if it was internal and trusted. Wouldn’t surprise me if the person still works there and possibly for him.
I also wonder what this means:
“At this time, we have been able to secure our sites, and close the unauthorized access points” – previous statements suggest it’s getting ride of the defaced web-pages. For there to be several access points like would be necessary to achieve all of the above, this would have been hacked a long time ago.