Tag Archives: Ashley Madison hack

The Year Targeted Phishing Went Mainstream

August 2, 2018
43 Comments

A story published here on July 12 about a new sextortion-based phishing scheme that invokes a real password used by each recipient has become the most-read piece on KrebsOnSecurity since this site launched in 2009. And with good reason — sex sells (the second most-read piece here was my 2015 scoop about the Ashley Madison hack).

But beneath the lurid allure of both stories lies a more unsettling reality: It has never been easier for scam artists to launch convincing, targeted phishing and extortion scams that are automated on a global scale. And given the sheer volume of hacked and stolen personal data now available online, it seems almost certain we will soon witness many variations on these phishing campaigns that leverage customized data elements to enhance their effectiveness.

Ex-Ashley Madison CTO Threatens Libel Suit

September 9, 2015
109 Comments

Last month, KrebsOnSecurity posted an exclusive story about emails leaked from AshleyMadison that suggested the company’s former chief technology officer Raja Bhatia hacked into a rival firm in 2012. Now, an attorney for the former executive is threatening a libel lawsuit against this author unless the story is retracted.

AshleyMadison: $500K Bounty for Hackers

August 24, 2015
62 Comments

AshleyMadison.com, an online cheating service whose motto is “Life is Short, Have an Affair,” is offering a $500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the individual or group of people responsible for leaking the highly personal information on the company’s more than 30 million users.

Extortionists Target Ashley Madison Users

August 21, 2015
310 Comments

People who cheat on their partners are always open to extortion by the parties involved. But when the personal details of millions of cheaters get posted online for anyone to download — as is the case with the recent hack of infidelity hookup site AshleyMadison.com — random blackmailers are bound to pounce on the opportunity.

Was the Ashley Madison Database Leaked?

August 18, 2015
376 Comments

Many news sites and blogs are reporting that the data stolen last month from 37 million users of AshleyMadison.com — a site that facilitates cheating and extramarital affairs — has finally been posted online for the world to see. In the past 48 hours, several huge dumps of data claiming to be the actual AshleyMadison database have turned up online. But there are precious few details in them that would allow one to verify these claims, and the company itself says it so far sees no indication that the files are legitimate.