“Your actions are illegal and won’t be tolerated”, hack” target=”_blank”>said Evans.
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Despite the efforts of Cycura and the Toronto Police Service to prevent the release of any further client information, the Ashley Madison user database was released online on August. 18.
Police say criminals are capitalizing on the cyberattack, and using the leaked information to extort people.
Hackers exposed bankers, civil servants and even Vatican staff as they published the email addresses, profile descriptions and personal details of 37million cheats who used the site.
There have already been multiple reports of extortion attempts of users, with would-be blackmailers threatening to “out” members unless they pay a bitcoin ransom. “We’re talking about their children, we’re talking about their wives, we’re talking about their male partners”, Mr. Bryce told reporters. The hackers may have put their cart before their horse in the data breach, as the burden of proof lies heavily on the Impact Team.
“By clicking on these links, you are exposing your computer to adware, spyware, malware and viruses”, Evans said.
The hackers taking credit for infiltrating extramarital dating site Ashley Madison say they have much more data, including user pictures, chats and messages.
The probe was announced by officers at a media briefing in Toronto on Monday.
Toronto Police, alongside the Ontario Provincial Police, the RCMP, FBI and U.S. Homeland Security, are now probing the hack, which saw personal information of more than 30 million site users released last week.
On Monday, Canadian police said the hack has also led to two unconfirmed reports of suicides in the country. “Nobody is going to be able to erase that information”, Evans said.
“This is not fun and games”, he said. He noted that workers at ALM first learned of the breach on July 12 when employees logged in to their computers and were confronted by a message from the hackers.
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Experts have offered conflicting opinions on the likely success of legal actions brought against Ashley Madison and its parent companies in the wake of the breach.
