Impact Team, the group of hackers who earlier stole a huge amount of personal data of about 37 million customers from the renowned cheating website Ashley Madison, now appear to release all the information on the Internet.
They have published near to 10 gigabytes of data, which includes all the personal details of the website users.
As we already knew that right after the security breach back in July, the group of hacktivist threatened and demanded two of the most popular sites of Avid Life Media (ALM) to be permanently closed or else they will publicly release the breached data, exposing the website users for their dubious ethics; those sites are Established Men and Ashley Madison.
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But since both of these websites continued to operate normally so the group released 9.7 gigabytes of data dump to the Dark Web through an Onion address and is only accessible via either Onion router or Tor web browser.
The huge data dump of 37 million users of the cheating website Ashley Madison published by the hacktivist group appears to include login and personal account details, millions of credit card and other transaction details dated back to 2007. The personal information includes name, residential address, email address as well as the total amount paid by the customer.
Even though the full credit card number is not released but every transaction does include the last four digits, which appears to be the last four digits of the credit card used for the payment. Or else it could be a unique ID for each transaction.
All of this information is stored at the Ashley Madison’s server despite the fact that the company offers a charged option, i.e. $19, for full profile deletion.
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Here’s an example of what kind of data you may find on the dark web:
https://twitter.com/MisterMetokur/status/633748154450513921
Statement by Impact Team
The data dump was released along with the statement by the Impact Team, which says:
Avid Life Media has failed to take down Ashley Madison and Established Men. We have explained the fraud, deceit, and stupidity of ALM and their members. Now everyone gets to see their data.
Find someone you know in here? Keep in mind the site is a scam with thousands of fake female profiles. See ashley madison fake profile lawsuit; 90-95% of actual users are male. Chances are your man signed up on the world’s biggest affair site, but never had one. He just tried to. If that distinction matters.
Find yourself in here? It was ALM that failed you and lied to you. Prosecute them and claim damages. Then move on with your life. Learn your lesson and make amends. Embarrassing now, but you’ll get over it.
Any data not signed with key 6E50 3F39 BA6A EAAD D81D ECFF 2437 3CD5 74AB AA38 is fake.
Official Statement by Ashley Madison
Here’s the official statement released by Ashley Madison just after the stolen data was posted by the hacktivist group Impact Team.
Last month we were made aware of an attack to our systems. We immediately launched a full investigation utilizing independent forensic experts and other security professionals to assist with determining the origin, nature, and scope of this attack. Our investigation is still ongoing and we are simultaneously cooperating fully with law enforcement investigations, including by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Toronto Police Services and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
We have now learned that the individual or individuals responsible for this attack claim to have released more of the stolen data. We are actively monitoring and investigating this situation to determine the validity of any information posted online and will continue to devote significant resources to this effort. Furthermore, we will continue to put forth substantial efforts into removing any information unlawfully released to the public, as well as continuing to operate our business.
This event is not an act of hacktivism, it is an act of criminality. It is an illegal action against the individual members of AshleyMadison.com, as well as any freethinking people who choose to engage in fully lawful online activities. The criminal, or criminals, involved in this act have appointed themselves as the moral judge, juror, and executioner, seeing fit to impose a personal notion of virtue on all of society. We will not sit idly by and allow these thieves to force their personal ideology on citizens around the world. We are continuing to fully cooperate with law enforcement to seek to hold the guilty parties accountable to the strictest measures of the law.
Every week sees new hacks disclosed by companies large and small, and though this may now be a new societal reality, it should not lessen our outrage. These are illegitimate acts that have real consequences for innocent citizens who are simply going about their daily lives. Regardless, if it is your private pictures or your personal thoughts that have slipped into public distribution, no one has the right to pilfer and reveal that information to audiences in search of the lurid, the titillating, and the embarrassing.
We know that there are people out there who know one or more of these individuals, and we invite them to come forward. While we are confident that the authorities will identify and prosecute each of them to the fullest extent of the law, we also know there are individuals out there who can help to make this happen faster. Anyone with information that can lead to the identification, arrest and conviction of these criminals, can contact [email protected].
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