Ashley Madison is in the News Again…This Time for the Hacking of Users’ Personal Info
As private investigators, we have stressed one hundred times over, and one hundred times again, that your personal information will ALWAYS be at risk in the cyber world. Every little bit of information you put out there, can, and most likely will, come back to you. And in the case of Ashley Madison’s newest data breach, cheaters worldwide are beginning to sweat as the hacker group “Impact Team” has gotten a hold of 37 million account holders’ names, addresses, among other personal information. They’re threatening to release names and personal preferences of its users unless the site shuts down. According to Danny Yardon of the Wall Street Journal, “‘Impact Team’ released the identities of some purported Ashley Madison users Sunday night, no new data was released Monday and the site remained operational.” In light of the recent breach, we can’t help but wonder how many of Ashley Madison’s users will delete their accounts in hopes that all of their information and communication with other users will be erased…unsuccessfully? According to the hacker(s) in a message sent to computer security blogger, Brian Krebs, Ashley Madison is misleading users about the data that is actually being collected. Yardon writes, “For $19, the company offers a service called “Full Delete” for departing customers that will remove things like a profile from the site, any messages a user has sent or received, photos and usage history. The hackers allege that since users pay for this service with a credit card, the site maintains records that those users were customers.” The hackers are threatening to release these records. But Ashley Madison’s parent company, Avid Life Media Inc., maintains the following: “Contrary to current media reports, and based on accusations posted online by a cyber criminal, the ‘paid-delete’ option offered by AshleyMadison.com does in fact remove all information related to a member’s profile and communications activity.” …We think it’s a little too late for that. Source
