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   From: lololol@divorces.com   
      
   Online dating site Ashley Madison, which specialises in adultery   
   and has the tagline “Life is short. Have an affair”, has been   
   the victim of a cyber attack.   
      
   A group calling themselves The Impact Team claims it has   
   complete access to Ashley Madison’s database of more than 37   
   million members, as well as financial records and other personal   
   information that it is threatening to publish online unless the   
   site closes.   
      
   The group has also compromised two other dating sites; Cougar   
   Life and Established Men, that are owned by the same parent   
   company; Avid Life Media (ALM).   
      
   Ashley Madison’s Canadian parent, Avid Life Media, confirmed the   
   breach on its systems and said it had since secured its site and   
   was working with law enforcement agencies to try to trace those   
   behind the attack.   
      
   The hackers said in a statement: “Avid Life Media has been   
   instructed to take Ashley Madison and Established Men offline   
   permanently in all forms, or we will release all customer   
   records, including profiles with all the customers’ secret   
   sexual fantasies and matching credit card transactions, real   
   names and addresses, and employee documents and emails. The   
   other websites may stay online.”   
      
   The hackers’ main issue with the controversial site appears to   
   be a leavers’ fee that Ashley Madison charges users. The site   
   offers a “full delete” of data for $15 should a user choose to   
   leave the service permanently. Although it is possible to be   
   anonymous on the site for free, the site says the delete service   
   is the only way to completely remove data from their servers.   
      
   But The Impact Team has said this is a “complete lie”, and   
   claims that details such as real name and address are never   
   deleted — information the hackers suggest is likely to be “the   
   most important” that users want removed.   
      
   In their own statement, ALM said: “We apologise for this   
   unprovoked and criminal intrusion into our customers’   
   information. The current business world has proven to be one in   
   which no company’s online assets are safe from cyber-vandalism,   
   with Avid Life Media being only the latest among many companies   
   to have been attacked, despite investing in the latest privacy   
   and security technologies.   
      
   “At this time, we have been able to secure our sites, and close   
   the unauthorised access points. We are working with law   
   enforcement agencies, which are investigating this criminal act.   
   Any and all parties responsible for this act of cyber-terrorism   
   will be held responsible.”   
      
   In a 2012 study by online rights campaign group EFF, Ashley   
   Madison was praised for the way it deleted data after a user   
   closed their account.   
      
   http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/online-cheating-   
   site-ashleymadison-hacked-1.2291065   
      
          
      
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