STFU NEWS: The AshleyMadison Data Dump

It was only transaction IDs thank god

Ah ok thanks for this. I heard CC info was released a la the Home Depot and Target situations.

Just wanted to also acknowledge your great post earlier. Thanks for digging into the numbers! While I don't have anywhere near the traffic you guys have your post (and this thread) did inspire me to look into my paysite numbers this week.

Sales are actually up a bit (odd being mid-August) while rebills seem steady. But when I checked traffic stats (popular pages) TOS and Privacy pages did indeed see a significant spike (35%).

I will keep an eye on the numbers as we move into the back-to-school and post-Labor Day season.

Unfortunately the media hype isn't likely to end anytime soon.

1. The hackers are dragging this out by releasing the data in dribs and drabs.
2. More customer names that are recognizable to the public are certain to emerge.
3. Sadly, at least a few of the thousands outed will quite possibly resort to suicide.

And the media will jump on any and all of this like flies on shit.

So It's fair to say that site owners should take a look at their Privacy and TOS pages to update them and it may even make sense to put a bold statement in about easy removal of data, free deletion of accounts etc on any kind of dating site offers.

As a shameless plug, it has also resulted in an uptick of people checking the validity of websitesecure.org trust seals (9% last I checked) on my own site, and I expect it has improved the value of the services we provide to sites that are certified.

The hackers are Russians.

Is that based on information or pure speculation?

>Does the release of the information affect your business?

Yes, I had customers asked to close the accounts: "My info had been hacked/compromised [no one specified Ashley Madison, but, you guess the timing...], please close my account. I am also canceling my credit card and getting a new one. I will then create a new account".

>Do you see any business opportunities as a result of the dump?

Nothing legal I can see...

>Will it be good or bad for the industry overall?

Bad. Since, I can't see a single reason why is good.

>Anything else you think is worth mentioning?

About the credit cards, the hackers said that they got that info not in Ashley Madison servers, but by logging in with user/password to the billers accounts (like, entering Epoch or CCbill), this is probably where the incomplete (partially masked) number would come from.

Except no more customers... even if they got savings, financially the company should be wiped out and possibly owners end in debt:

Ashley Madison Faces $578 Million Class-Action Lawsuit
http://www.inc.com/associated-press/...n-lawsuit.html

NO problem to find legal substance on damages... there's already extortion emails "pay with bitcon or we tell your wife" mails:
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/08/...madison-users/

Some data: 28 million men versus 5 million women. just 14 percent of users on the site appeared to be women, "But ... repeatedly claimed Ashley Madison’s users were half men and half women in its key demographic":

Ashley Madison Hack Exposes (Wait for It) a Lousy Business | WIRED

But... " A former employee filed a lawsuit against the company claiming damages for wrist injuries caused while creating “1,000 fake female” profiles for the site’s launch in Brazil. ", so what's the real womens number?

I think the most stuff to come it will be christian, conservative activists, politicians names coming out. Here another christian evangelist:

Viral Christian Pregnancy YouTuber Sam Rader Had a Paid Ashley Madison Account

Would be nice to have someone from Ashley Madison post here. Some info on what they're are doing would be great. At least be somewhat accountable.

They give no updates in 5 days:

https://twitter.com/ashleymadison

They are now being sued for many millions of dollars via class action lawsuits and potentially face action from government agencies as well. I'd be shocked if they choose to make any statement at all until this gets resolved.

Yep. In light of all of the legal things popping up, they are well-advised to stay very quiet at this point with any sort of public statement that can and will be held against them in a court of law.

What a fucking mess.

Seeing AFF Canadian sign-ups taking the biggest hit. Numbers usually stay pretty consistent (based on over 15 years of heavy promotion). US numbers down but not as significantly as Canada. UK not affected at all at this point.
Still too early to be able to say that A M is the only reason for current drops.

Indeed. I do suspect that it being the final weeks of August comes into play here as well with so many folks taking summer vacations. Surprised your UK numbers are holding up as that and the rest EU countries pretty much take the month of August off and go to Spain where there is no internet! lol

Just a quick note of a real word impact:

A married couple I'm close friends with happens to be in a open relationship. However they don't tell their families about their love life. They both had accounts on Ashley Madison and used the site to meet other likeminded swingers.

Yesterday, the husband was contacted by an extended family member, who was very upset and wanted to let him know that his wife was using AM to cheat on him because he found her email address in the data dump. Now, my friend had to explain to him that they have an open relationship and will end up letting the rest of his family know that he and his wife like to swap with other couples so that they don't think his wife is cheating on him.

The whole thing is making a big mess out of people's live in all kinds of ways.