Ashley Madison touted itself as being the “premiere website for discreet connections.” The “Life is short, have an affair,” promoter has been hacked. When rolling out interviewed its founder Noel Biderman in 2012, he shared this about the then 10-year-old company’s mission, “Infidelity crosses every ethnicity, social economical [status] and gender; no one is immune to having an affair.
“These are people [site members] who want to have their cake and eat it too, but what they’re trying to do is preserve their [relationship] paradigm, but change their sexual paradigm because monogamy has failed them in some way.”
On their Twitter page, Ashley Madison shared a link to their statement about a data breach:
“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.
Site’s hackers claim 37million personal records – credit card information, nude photos and fantasies – have been stolen from popular dating site. Hackers, The Impact Team, claim they did it because Ashley Madison charges users a fee of $20 for a “full delete” of their information if they decide to leave the site. Although users have the option of permanently hiding their profile free of charge, the company’s advertisements claim that the “full delete” service really is the only way to completely remove information from the servers.
