A Ashley Madison hack occurred last night. The secret lives of 37 million cheaters are at risk of being exposed, as AshleyMadison.com, whose slogan is “Life is short. Have an affair—” was hacked into by a group or individual going by the name “The Impact Team,” currently threatening to release the real identities of the website’s customers, as well as large amounts of sensitive information belonging to the employees of the website’s parent company Avid Life Media.
The Ashley Madison hack is occurring just two short months after the same hacker or hackers exposed the secret lives of millions who used another similar hookup site, AdultFriendFinder.com.
Ashley Madison is Risky Business
The Impact Team has since been releasing threatening statements all morning, stating that if their demands are not met, they will release the personal information of every customer in the website’s database, including their “…secret sexual fantasies and matching credit card transactions, real names and addresses, and employee documents and emails.”
Chief Executive of Avid Life Media Noel Biderman has since announced his plan to launch a full criminal investigation into the act, as his worst fears for the website have been realized—not only have the secret lives of millions been compromised, but The Impact Team have also leaked photos indicating their acquisition of company bank account and salary information.
WHAT DO THE HACKERS WANT?
Motivation for The Impact Team’s Ashley Madison hack comes from their belief that the website’s “full-delete” function, which promises a complete erasing of a customer’s account and personal information from the website for a fee of $19, to be a fraud.
By paying Avid Life Media, one’s credit card information, account history, names and addresses are expected to be fully wiped from the website—all information now ready to be exposed by The Impact Team, far from deleted.
The Impact Team requests for AshleyMadison, as well as ALM’s sister sites to be shut down, or else risk exposing enormous amounts of personal and financial information. “Shutting down Ashley Madison will cost you, but non-compliance will cost you more,” the hackers recently stated.
IMPACT of Ashley Madison Hack
The website’s parent company recently showed plans to raise $200 million dollars through the London Stock Market due to their increasingly booming business— a plan that many now, including the Wall Street Journal deem impossible, as the recent Ashley Madison hack has put their business at high risk.
