Cheaters left vulnerable after Ashley Madison hack

The personal data of potentially millions of ‘cheaters’ left vulnerable after dating site hacked.

FILE - In this June 10, 2015 photo, Ashley Madison's Korean web site is shown on a computer screen in Seoul, South Korea. Avid Life Media Inc., the parent company of Ashley Madison, a matchmaking website for cheating spouses, said it was hacked and that the personal information of some of its users was posted online. The breach was first reported late Sunday, July 19, 2015, by Brian Krebs of Krebs on Security, a website that focuses on cybersecurity. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

Dating website for ‘cheaters’ Ashley Madison has been the victim of a hacking attack, exposing the data of potentially millions of users worldwide.

The site’s Toronto-based parent company, Avid Life Media, admitted the attack in a statement yesterday, saying it had “stringent security measures in place” but not enough to prevent an attack.

“We were recently made aware of an attempt by an unauthorised party to gain access to our systems,” an Avid spokesman said.

“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.

“We apologise for this unprovoked and criminal intrusion into our customers’ information.”

Ashley Madison, which is a site where “married men and women” could pursue a “discreet affair” says it boasts more than 37 million anonymous users and was considering a London IPO sometime this year, aiming to raise up to $US200m.

Analysts are already concerned the attack could jeopardise a potential listing.

The hack could douse the flame of a hot internet IPO where privacy is central to its business plan, according to Matthew Kennedy, an analyst at IPO research firm Renaissance Capital LLC.

A spokesman for Avid Life Media said the IPO remains an option “irrespective of today’s news”.

The attack was first revealed by KrebsOnSecurity, which said ‘Impact Team’, a hacking group, published large caches of data stolen from the site in response to a profile-erasure service offered by Avid Life Media for $US19.

The hackers claimed the company made $US1.7m in revenue last year from that service which they said doesn’t actually erase personal information.

In response, Avid Life Media said “The ‘paid-delete’ option offered by AshleyMadison.com does in fact remove all information related to a member’s profile and communications activity”, adding it is now offering the delete option free to any member.

Avid Life also today said it forced file-sharing sites to take down samples of the stolen data but declined to discuss what data the hackers still have.

Brian Krebs quoted Avid Life chief executive Noel Biderman as saying the hack was done by “a person here that was not an employee but certainly had touched our technical services”.

The site remains operational.

With the Wall Street Journal.

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