Ashley Madison, a social network for adults seeking "special" relationships with discretion, appears to have been compromised by an individual or group of hackers who managed to steal personal data from users of the "sly" social network, according to security researcher Brian Krebs.
From the website, which claims to have over 3.7million users, and Krebs mentions some very interesting details.
An individual or group of hackers calling themselves The Impact Team claimed responsibility for the attack. In a manifesto they published alongside the stolen data, they said they decided to release the users' details in response to the lies of Avid Life Media (ALM is the company that owns the social network Ashley Madison) that it charges its customers $19 to completely delete their profiles.
The Impact Team said the “full delete” feature does not actually delete user profiles, as advertised by the company. ALM reportedly earned around $1.7 million last year from this feature alone.
The team stated:
Users almost always pay with a credit card, and their purchase details are not deleted, as the company promises. The information includes real name and address, which is certainly the most important information users want deleted.
ALM CEO Noel Biderman said the company is investigating the incident and added that it believes the hack came from someone who had access to their networks.
"We apologize for the unprovoked and criminal intrusion into customers' information ."
