Hackers dump stolen Ashley Madison data onto the Dark Web

The hackers threatened Avid Life Media, the parent company of AshleyMadison.com and sister site Established Men (for young women seeking affluent men) to shut down their websites else they would “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”, as stated following their initial breach.

Fairfax Media has not yet been able to verify the file, which was posted as an almost-10-gigabyte torrent file on a web page accessible only on the anonymous Tor network.

Hackers targeting Ashley Madison, a dating website for adulterers, have reportedly followed through on their threat to post all of the site’s user information online for the world to see. “We have explained the fraud, deceit, and stupidity of ALM and their members”. While users ponied up to ensure their partners never caught wind of their attempts to cheat, successful or otherwise, ALM apparently kept that user data locked within its servers. “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”, Avid Life Media said in a statement to Wired.

The hackers, who called themselves the Impact Team, initiated the hack back in July out of disapproval for Ashley Madison’s mission to help married people cheat.

The site does not require email verification during the sign-up process, posing questions over the legitimacy of the data.

The hackers also has some condescending advice to users whose information has been leaked.

“Find someone you know in here?” a note by the group reads, according to Wired. “Too bad for ALM, you promised secrecy but didn’t deliver”, said the group. See ashley madison fake profile lawsuit; 90-95% of actual users are male. Prosecute them and claim damages. “If that distinction matters”. “Embarrassing now, but you’ll get over it”.