In a statement ALM said: “We will continue to put forth substantial efforts into removing information unlawfully released to the public, as well as continuing to operate our business”.
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The hackers who stole the data, Impact Team, initially demanded that Avid Life Media take down Ashley Madison and its companion site, Established Men.
However, users with access to the full database will be able to verify those emails and users by comparing the addresses to biographical, geographical and credit card details contained within the database. But by Wednesday morning in the US, the information was popping up on more accessible places, including at least one website that allowed users to search the data by phone number or email address.
It is estimated that around 175,000 South Africans may have been exposed due to the security breach.
Although many may have signed up out of curiosity and some have little more to fear than embarrassment, the consequences for others could reverberate beyond their marriages.
Nova FM hosts Fitzy and Wippa were discussing the dump of millions of user information hacked from the website with the tagline: “Life’s short”.
The information includes about 15,000.mil or.gov email addresses. Using a government email to register for an adultery website may seem foolish, but CybelAngel Vice President of Operations Damien Damuseau said there was a certain logic to it. Using a professional address, he said, keeps the messages out of personal accounts “where their partner might see them”.
How numerous people registered with Ashley Madison actually used the site to seek sex outside their marriage is an unresolved question.
Run by a Canada-based company called Avid Life Media, Ashley Madison was founded in 2001 and has a reported 33 million users in 46 countries.
She supplied her husband’s details to Fitzy and Wippa, who checked whether he was listed in the hacked Ashley Madison information. In its statement, Avid Life Media accused the hackers of seeking to impose “a personal notion of virtue on all of society”.
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Computer security analyst Graham Cluley offered an even stronger warning in his latest blog post. As several observers have noted, members of the armed services in the U.S. found guilty of fidelity can be dishonorably discharged and lose their pensions.
