Seven months after Ashley Madison agreed to pay $1.65 million to settle federal and state probes into its lax security and deceptive practices, the company is back with another settlement that will see users whose personal information was breached when the adultery site was hacked in July 2015 recoup up to $3,500 for their troubles. [More]
Ashley Madison
Ashley Madison’s Penalty For Exposing Details On 36 Million Users? About $.04 Per Person
By 12.14.16
In 2015, a major data breach at AshleyMadison.com — the dating site targeted at cheaters — exposed information for some 36 million accounts. The company has now entered into a deal that settles federal and state charges that Ashley Madison: misled users about data security and failed to protect user information; charged users to delete profiles (but didn’t); and used fake profiles to lure in customers. While the settlement has a price tag of $8.75 million, Ashley Madison will actually pay significantly less than that. [More]
FTC Investigating Ashley Madison, New CEO Confirms
By 7.6.16
The hack that leaked 30 million customers’ data all over the internet may be a year in the past, but things are still rough for intentional-infidelity dating site Ashley Madison, which now finds itself the target of a federal probe. [More]
Judge: Ashley Madison Customers Can’t Be Anonymous If They Want To Sue Cheating Site
By 4.22.16
It’s understandable why someone who uses a website to cheat on their significant would want anonymity — mostly, they don’t want to get caught. But the former Ashley Madison customers seeking to sue over the massive data hack last year that exposed personal information for 30 million users or so will have to attach their names to the lawsuit, a federal judge ruled recently. [More]
Ashley Madison Offering Profile Photo Masks, Rendering Users Completely Unrecognizable To Their Loved Ones
By 2.2.16
Isn’t it creepy when your husband/boyfriend leaves the room for a second, and then a stranger with a mask over his eyes enters it right after, and you’re like, “Whoa! Who are you and what have you done with my husband/boyfriend?!” Because everyone knows that disguises that only cover half your face can fool loved ones into thinking you’re a total stranger, Ashley Madison is offering users new tools to keep their identities secret. [More]
Former Ashley Madison Customer Sues Site Over “Army Of Fembots” With Fake Profiles
By 11.2.15
After hackers dumped a plethora of personal information about Ashley Madison’s 37 million subscribers online in August, the public has learned a lot about the dating site aimed at cheaters. Among the reported revelations: only about 15% of its users are women, contrary to the site’s marketing claims, a new lawsuit says. Adding insult to injury? The army of fembots scattered through the sites with fake profiles written by employees. [More]
Ashley Madison Says People, Even Some Real Women, Are Still Signing Up For Cheating Site
By 8.31.15
We can understand why people continued to shop at retailers that have been hit by data breaches. You still need to buy groceries, clothing, housewares, etc. But what about a website whose main selling point is privacy? Even though AshleyMadison.com — the dating website for cheaters — has been publicly embarrassed by the posting of millions of users’ personal data, it claims that people are still signing up… and that they’re not all just dudes. [More]
Ashley Madison CEO Steps Down In Wake Of Hacking Scandal
By 8.28.15
Less than two weeks after hackers published two big data dumps full of material stolen from Ashley Madison, a dating website for cheaters, its parent company Avid Life Media announced that effective today, CEO Noel Biderman will be stepping down from his position and is no longer with the company. [More]
Why The Stolen Ashley Madison Data Is (Legally) Fair Game For The Internet
By 8.25.15
If your credit card information gets stolen in a data breach, there are certain rules in place that limit your liability and protect you from fraud. But if a hack makes personal, potentially very embarrassing, information public — as in, say, the Ashley Madison hack — there’s not much anyone can do to stop others from seeing or writing about it. [More]
Ashley Madison Offering $378,000 Reward For Info On Hackers
By 8.24.15
While big companies have been known to offer “bounties” to white-hat hackers to test for weaknesses in their networks and websites to ensure they aren’t one day breached in a cyber attack, it’s too late for AshleyMadison.com, the dating site for cheaters. After the embarrassment of having its users’ private information made very public, the site is now dangling several hundred thousand dollars as a reward for information leading to the arrest of the group behind the massive hack. [More]
Even More Ashley Madison Data, Including CEO’s E-Mails, Dumped Online
By 8.20.15
Just as you were finishing up examining all the dark corners to see if you could find any famous people hidden in the first 10GB AshleyMadison.com data dump, a second one — twice the size — has made its way online, complete with e-mails from the company’s CEO. [More]
Cheating Website AshleyMadison.com Reportedly Made Nearly $2M/Year From Users Trying To Delete Accounts
By 8.19.15
One of the reasons that hackers first attacked AshleyMadison.com, the dating site for people looking to cheat, is because it charges upwards of $20 to users for a “Full Delete” service that scrubs their accounts and photos from the site; something it could just do without charging. Just how many people paid for this? Enough for the website to make nearly $2 million a year. [More]
Very Personal Information For Over 30 Million Ashley Madison Users Set Loose On Internet In Wake Of Hack
By 8.19.15
Ashley Madison, the website for cheating cheaters who specifically want to go have an affair, was hacked in July. A day later, the company said that it was working to secure its users’ data and all personally identifiable data had been taken down. But perhaps the company is taking after the worst habits of its member base, because that too turns out to be a pack of dirty lies: the full data for over 30 million Ashley Madison accounts is now out there in the wild. [More]
Cheaters’ Dating Site Would Sure Like It If You Pay To Delete Your Profile (But You Don’t Have To)
By 8.25.14
The time has come, and you’re done being a member of Ashley Madison, a dating website with the mission of pairing up married people who want to cheat on their spouses. But do you have to pay $19 just to delete your profile, as some users thought was the case? Not really, but also yes, you can pay $19. [More]
Does A Bad Economy Make You More Likely To Cheat On Your Significant Other? Maybe
By 5.1.14
The financial crisis of 2008 devastated many areas of consumers lives from losing a job to losing a home. But could the recession also have caused people to stray from their committed relationships? That’s what the data compiled from one adultery website shows. [More]
