The CEO of the online dating website for cheaters that was just hacked says it was an inside job
(REUTERS/Francois Lenoir) A 2012 Ashley Madison advertising campaign in Brussels showing pictures of Britain's Prince Charles, Belgium's King Albert II, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton. The poster reads,
This weekend, AshleyMadison, the online dating website for people looking to have an affair, was hacked — and its CEO is saying it might be an inside job.
On Sunday, an anonymous online group calling itself the Impact Team claimed to have gained access to the personal data of millions of AshleyMadison users, threatening to reveal the identity and sexual fantasies of over 37 million who used the cheating site.
The company is now scrambling to mitigate the damage, and its CEO thinks the breach may have been caused by an insider.
Late last night, journalist Brian Krebs first reported on the breach. The hackers, wrote Krebs, claimed to have gained access to the "company’s user databases, financial records, and other proprietary information."
It was reportedly an act of retribution in response to the fact that AshleyMadison only lets customers completely delete their profile if they pay $19. But the hackers claim this feature is an outright lie.
According to Krebs, who cites the hackers’ manifesto, Avid Life Media — the parent company of Ashley Madison — still holds the credit card information (which contains names and addresses) of people who forked over the $19 for a "full delete."
ALM’s CEO Noel Biderman admitted the hack took place to Krebs. But he went even further and alluded that the data theft may have come from an insider. "I’ve got their profile right in front of me, all their work credentials. It was definitely a person here that was not an employee but certainly had touched our technical services," Biderman told Krebs.
Whether or not the hack was an inside job, this could be catastrophic for the company. The hackers are demanding the ALM take down both Ashley Madison and its Established Men site, otherwise they'll release all of the info they have on the site's more than 37 million users.
ALM has responded saying that it has brought in both law enforcement and IT experts to help it wade through this debacle.
The company writes, "Our team of forensics experts and security professionals, in addition to law enforcement, are continuing to investigate this incident and we will continue to provide updates as they become available."
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