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Wednesday 19 August 2015

Ashley Madison hackers release stolen user data

In news just in, nearly 10 gigabytes worth of data stolen from the 'cheating' and hook up website Ashley Madison (aka, the leading online dating site for adulterers), has reportedly been posted on the Dark Net.

“Ashley Madison is the most famous name in infidelity and married dating,” the site asserts on its homepage. “Have an Affair today on Ashley Madison. Thousands of cheating wives and cheating husbands signup everyday looking for an affair…. With Our affair guarantee package we guarantee you will find the perfect affair partner.”


And on the site, it says: there are over "38,855,000 anonymous members!"

And: "Ashley Madison is the world's leading married dating service for discreet encounters"

Here are some of Ashley Madison's TV ads:













And a story on the site, on 'Dr Drew':


THIS is how the hackers introduced the new data dump:




Which essentially means that if you've signed up to the site, your details are about to be exposed. Well, they ARE exposed… now.
What do you think of the whole thing?
Should your details be exposed, even if you are cheating on your spouse?
Here is what is said to have been exposed:
The data released by the hackers includes names, addresses and phone numbers submitted by users of the site, though it’s unclear if members provided legitimate details. A sampling of the data indicates that users likely provided random numbers and addresses.

UPDATED

So, how DO you find out if your data has been compromised? (That is, your details have been 'dumped' by Ashleigh Madison)?

The most reputable site to check this on Have I Been Pwned. Click here for that site.

You can set it up so that any notifications regarding your account being 'compromised' can be revealed.

The site itself says:


Ashley Madison: In July 2015, the infidelity website Ashley Madison suffered a serious data breach. The attackers threatened Ashley Madison with the full disclosure of the breach unless the service was shut down. One month later, the database was dumped including more than 30M unique email addresses. This breach has been classed as "sensitive" and is not publicly searchable, although individuals may discover if they've been impacted by registering for notificationsRead about this approach in detail.
Compromised data: Addresses, Dates of birth, Email addresses, Ethnicities, Genders, Names, Passwords, Payment histories, Phone numbers, Security questions, Sexual preferences, Usernames, Website activity

So, basically it means that you and only you can check if your email is in that Ashley Madison mix. So, you can't check your spouse's email address, your boss, your sibling, your friend, your ex. Just yours.

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