Hackers threaten to expose 37m cheats

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 itself the Impact Team claims to have complete access to Ashley Madison’s database of more than 37m members, as well as financial records and personal information that it is threatening to publish online unless the site closes.

The hacking group has threatened to release nude photos and sexual fantasies of the site’s clients unless it is shut down.

The group has also compromised two other dating sites — Cougar Life and Established Men — owned by the same parent company; Avid Life Media.

The hackers said: “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 site appears to be a leavers’ fee that Ashley Madison charges users.

The site offers a “full delete” of data for £15 (€21.50) 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.

The Impact Team has said this is a “complete lie”, and claims that details such as real name and address are never deleted.

Avid Life Media 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 how it deleted data after a user closed their account.

The Impact Team leaked snippets of the data online and warned it would release customers’ real names, profiles, nude photos, credit card details, and “secret sexual fantasies” unless their demands were met.

Ashley Madison has been planning to raise up to $200m through an IPO on the London Stock Exchange.