Ashley Madison Hack Update: Is the Exposure Threat Gone?
It has been almost one month since it was revealed that the Canadian-based website, AshleyMadison.com, which encourages its users, who are married or in a committed relationship, to have affairs or brief flings, was hacked.
Although the hackers have threatened to release the information on all of the site's 37 million users if the website is not taken down, no new information has been leaked since July 21, leading many to believe that the threat of exposure is no longer imminent.
Here is a timeline of the events:
July 15
A team of hackers called The Impact Team revealed that they have stolen all of the information from the website. The team threatened to release the members' names, as well as other personal information, such as credit card numbers and secret fantasies if the website was not taken down.
July 20
The website, which is owned Avid Life Media, released three statements in regards to the breach. The company reassured members that the sites have all been secured and informed them that they are working with law enforcement agencies to get to the bottom of the hack. The company also agreed to waive the account deletion charge.
July 21
The Impact Team supposedly released information on 2,500 users. Representatives from Ashley Madison stated that the information was false and that only two members had their real names leaked.
July 26
Links that supposedly lead to real data started popping up. After investigating these links, it was concluded that they were just spam,
"Spammers will always try to abuse any trend to get some free exposure, and this Ashley Madison leak is no exception," Jeroen Vader who runs the Pastebin website said. "It is hard for us to remove everything, but we do actively search for such posts."
July 31
BBC News reported that the links led to false data, scam pages and malware.
August 11
Divorce attorney Jason Levoy explains why it would be good for the couples if the information were leaked. Read his take on Huffington Post.
