Hackers claim to have leaked a large list of users from a matchmaking website for cheating spouses.
According to Wired Magazine, the massive list from AshleyMadison.com has finally made its online appearance as hackers made good on the threats made last month. The Toronto-based website offers connections for people who want to have a discrete affair. Avid Life Media Inc., the company that owns Ashley Madison, issued a statement on Tuesday stating they were aware of the attack on their systems.
“We immediately launched a full investigation utilizing independent forensic experts and other security professionals to assist with determining the origin, nature, and scope of this attack,” said the company in a statement. “Our investigation is still ongoing and we are simultaneously cooperating fully with law enforcement investigations, including by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Toronto Police Services and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Avid Life Media has confirmed that the hackers have released more of the stolen data and they are working to remove it from the internet.
Photo Credit: AshleyMadison.com
“The criminal, or criminals, involved in this act have appointed themselves as the moral judge, juror, and executioner, seeing fit to impose a personal notion of virtue on all of society,” the statement goes on to say. “We will not sit idly by and allow these thieves to force their personal ideology on citizens around the world. We are continuing to fully cooperate with law enforcement to seek to hold the guilty parties accountable to the strictest measures of the law.”
According to the Wired article, the data dump included account and log-in details for approximately 32 million users of the networking site. The information is only available through a Tor browser as the hackers have posted it to the dark web using an Onion address. The data leak includes seven years’ worth of credit card and other payment transactions, including names, addresses, and email addresses. Credit card numbers have not been released.
The hackers, who call themselves the Impact Team, had previously demanded that Ashley Madison and its companion site Established Men take down the two sites. Impact Team claims the websites have fraudulent business practices as they promise to delete customer data for a $19 fee, but they do not actually delete the information.
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