Lifestyle

The Ashley Madison Data Dump: By The Numbers

MASSIVE BREACH HAS FAR-REACHING RAMIFICATIONS … || By FITSNEWS || This week, hackers belonging to a group called the Impact Team made good on their threats – orchestrating a massive data dump impacting users of Ashley Madison (a.k.a. the “cheater’s website”). Within hours, the scandal had already claimed its first high-profile…

MASSIVE BREACH HAS FAR-REACHING RAMIFICATIONS …

|| By FITSNEWS || This week, hackers belonging to a group called the Impact Team made good on their threats – orchestrating a massive data dump impacting users of Ashley Madison (a.k.a. the “cheater’s website”).

Within hours, the scandal had already claimed its first high-profile victim.

The numbers associated with this scandal are staggering …

* 36 million email addresses
* 33 million accounts
* 15,000 government email addresses (.gov or .mil)
* 9.7 gigabytes of data

The data included user names, first names, last names, IP addresses, street addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and credit card information.

The hackers claim to have been motivated by a desire to punish Ashley Madison for lying to its customers about a so-called “full delete” feature – which ostensibly scrubbed users’ information for a $20 fee.

And so they gave the website an ultimatum: Shut down, or else.  Ashley Madison’s owners – Avid Life Media – chose to ignore this ultimatum.  And now its clients (all 33 million of them) are paying the price.

We have several thoughts on the scandal …

First, it’s important to remember this data was stolen: Meaning we are dealing with a massive, sprawling crime scene (maybe the biggest crime scene in history).  And whatever Ashley Madison’s customers did or didn’t do, its customers didn’t deserve this.

As for the data itself, all indications are that it is legitimate – which means media outlets large and small must determine how they are going to handle it.

Including this website …

“Our editorial policy on affairs is pretty simple these days: Unless the public figure in question is wasting tax money, abusing their office or committing some sort of crime in the furtherance of their illicit liaison – or is some sort of sanctimonious ‘family values’ hypocrite – we’re not inclined to write on what goes on in their personal life,” we wrote last month when the Ashley Madison hack was first reported.

In other words if public people don’t mix (taxpayer) business with pleasure – or advance their careers by publicly condemning behavior they participate in privately –  we’re not going to expose them.

Since the data dump, we’ve been approached with several tips related to alleged identifying information from Ashley Madison users.  One of the tips involves a private citizen – a woman.  Nothing related to her case strikes us as meeting any of the criteria we’ve outlined, so we’re not following up on it.

Another tip involves a government email address.  We are investigating that tip (as are other media outlets, we’re told).  And of course we can’t control what stories other media outlets break that we might be compelled to comment on.

Stay tuned … this could get interesting.

***

Related posts

Lifestyle

Amanda Cunningham: Dating At 38

Amanda Cunningham
Featured

Amanda Cunningham: The American Marriage

Amanda Cunningham
US & World

Amanda Cunningham: The Reach For Freedom

Amanda Cunningham

107 comments

Ashley's Secrets August 20, 2015 at 11:31 am

* 9.7 gigabytes of data – That’s compressed data. It works out to about 35 gigabytes uncompressed. This going to be fun.

Reply
#DeezNuts2016 August 20, 2015 at 12:01 pm

I ain’t scared!

Reply
TSIB August 20, 2015 at 11:34 am

“The hackers claim to have been motivated by a desire to punish Ashley Madison for lying to its customers about a so-called “full delete” feature – which ostensibly scrubbed users’ information for a $20 fee.”

So the hackers want to punish AM for lying to customers . . . and the punishment is to punish the customers?

That does not compute.

Reply
Hit Them Where It Hurts August 20, 2015 at 11:38 am

Hitting them in the wallet is the only way you are going to teach such companies a lesson. Guarantee you AM is going down the tubes in the wake of this.

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 12:16 pm

And I bet you they have a new one up and running in a month.

Reply
They Already Had a Month August 20, 2015 at 2:51 pm

They were given 30 days and they didn’t shut their doors, who is to say the people behind AM didn’t open up a new shop on the side that is just waiting to take over the fleeing customers?

We’re talking about a website that enables adultery, no point in assuming they have any amount of scruples.

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 3:10 pm

Bam!!!! Ba-ba-bam!!!!

deceit,cheat,repeat August 20, 2015 at 1:19 pm

Live by the Sword, die by the Sword…

Reply
Lulz Bomb August 20, 2015 at 11:37 am

The amount of damage this is capable of creating just has me in complete awe.

Reply
Bible Thumper August 20, 2015 at 11:38 am

Before you go exposing me, I have always said that I was a sinner. ?

Reply
Krazy Kat August 20, 2015 at 11:48 am

Gives a new slant to that favorite FITS term “pay-to-play” don’t it.

Reply
Jack August 20, 2015 at 12:12 pm

I truly wish there was a way to only expose those who are family values politicians, religious leaders, and “traditional marriage” advocates; but there isn’t. Unfortunately the mere sinners will suffer along with the sinning hypocrites. But hopefully most people will only care about the sinning hypocrites.

Reply
Screw those fools August 20, 2015 at 12:20 pm

Fuck any jackass who signed up for that site. Judging by the ratio of men to women amoungst its members it was people look for an affair with another man.

Reply
Jack August 20, 2015 at 12:31 pm

Well, I guess you are right, but I hate to see people’s lives and families destroyed by a one time mistake. Unless they are the type of person who ruins other people’s lives, or who pretend to lead exemplary lives. Then I don’t care if they fall. But as I said, what I wish is not relevant, all will suffer.

Reply
The Buzzman August 20, 2015 at 1:03 pm

I don’t think most of the people on that site are one-timers.

They are, at the very least, two-timers.

vicupstate August 20, 2015 at 12:46 pm

Did you really expect the M/F ratio would be similar?

Women are looking for the ONE man that will fulfill their EVERY want and need. Men are looking for EVERY woman that will fulfill their ONE want and need – Jay Leno

Reply
CorruptionInColumbia August 20, 2015 at 1:09 pm

“Fuck any jackass who signed up for that site.”

Well, that was kinda the idea, wasn’t it?
:-D

Reply
Bazinga! August 20, 2015 at 2:47 pm

+100

Krazy Kat August 20, 2015 at 11:45 am

Another source is reporting more than a few sc.gov email addresses–but no further details. Can the crack FITS investigative staff get anything on this?

Reply
shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 11:55 am

Didn’t Fits hire a Chinese guy to monitor police
scanners? Put him on it. He wrote a book,

“Mystery in the Barnyard”, by Hu Flung Dung.

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 12:15 pm

In South America the descreet adulters use “love hotels” which are small enclaves outside of town with enclosed parking areas to hide cars, and rooms that are made out of cloth partitions. Those have been very successful, but now I understand in Brazil they’ve gone upscale, with love hotels that resemble cheesy Pocono-style love nests. But eitherway, I think those guys are smart and pay cash.

Reply
dwb619 August 20, 2015 at 8:24 pm

North Augusta had one of those until the Palmetto Parkway was built. Then you could down off the highway into the back lot.
Lot of Caddys, Lexus, Mercedes, BMW with Richmond and Columbia county , Georgia plates!
YOU BETCHA!
I can see Evans from my house.

Reply
shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 9:06 pm

Ole and Lena had been married seven years. Lena was getting worried that Ole might be getting the seven year itch. She thought he was cheating on her. Lena says to Ole “You never tell me you love me. Is there someone else?”

Ole replies “When we got married I told you I loved you. If I ever change my mind I’ll let you know.”

Reply
tomstickler August 20, 2015 at 11:55 am

Another view from my favorite conspiracy site, Cannonfire:

Crap! I cannot believe that the Ashley Madison data dump was the work of hackers who had moral objections to the company. Most hackers tend toward anarchism, and
most anarchists aren’t prudes. Yes, it is true that Ashley Madison is, in a sense, a scam site, since the “female” profiles probably include many fakes. (Bogus females are a problem on all dating sites.) But that fact should not lead us to presume that the hackers are real, or that their motives are as stated.

Ashley Madison’s client base was commandeered by a group known only as the
Impact Team, which has justified its actions in a singularly unconvincing manifesto. If the stated reason for the hack is not the real reason, then what’s going on?

It appears that many of people who signed up for Ashley Madison’s services used
government email accounts. The political agenda should be obvious.

Thousands of clients using the affair-oriented Ashley Madison website listed email addresses registered to the White House, top federal agencies and military branches, a data dump by hackers revealed.

The detailed data, released Tuesday, will likely put Washington, D.C., on edge. The nation’s capital reportedly has the highest rate of membership for the site of any city.

The hackers were free to shape the list however they wished. As far as we know, the IT could have decided to protect the politicians they like, and to ruin any politicians they
don’t. The hackers may even have decided to frame prominent people who have never signed up with Ashley Madison. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Bill Clinton’s name pops up somewhere in this story, although I am certain that he would never use such a service. Who would believe his denials?)

Reddit users have found some telling irregularities in the torrents which contain the hacked data. For one thing, the torrents are of differing sizes.

There’s a great deal of intra-party hate going on in conservative circles these days, so any Republicans embarrassed by this operation may have been targeted by a conservative who favors a rival.

Reply
Crooner August 20, 2015 at 11:58 am

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE: I was just conducting an investigation into whether or not this site was violating any laws. I wasn’t planning to use their services myself.

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 12:19 pm

Fortunately for the GOP most of their Congressmen and Senators are PC illiterate, so it’s mainly going to be young Dems that get busted.

Reply
CorruptionInColumbia August 20, 2015 at 1:43 pm

I wondered if Lindsey had time to pay for a “M seeking F” ad in order to dispel those rumours.

Reply
Tazmaniac August 20, 2015 at 2:09 pm

I’m Your Graham Cracker! M seek F- I have LOTS of experience with WOMEN. Must have those milk things on your chest and a whatchamacallit slot between your legs because thats how Heteros like me like it. mail to: heteroguysenator@SC. USA.GOV

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 3:17 pm

Damn it. Another spray of coffee on the monitor.

dwb619 August 20, 2015 at 8:25 pm

NO YOU DIDN”T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply
Truthmonger August 20, 2015 at 12:44 pm

Obama’s Revenge….

Reply
Crooner August 20, 2015 at 11:55 am

These idiots violated the rule “no video, no photos, nothing in writing. Deny, deny, deny.” How many times have you been told NOTHING on the internet goes away? That said, they don’t deserve being outed.

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 12:17 pm

Nothing on your credit card account goes away either.

Reply
Crooner August 20, 2015 at 11:59 am

By the way- the chick in the illustration above? I’d totally hit that.

Reply
We All Wood August 20, 2015 at 12:00 pm

Amen brutha.

Reply
#DeezNuts2016 August 20, 2015 at 12:02 pm

Get in line, bitches…

Reply
shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 12:18 pm

Is that a Columbia College dorm room?

Reply
CorruptionInColumbia August 20, 2015 at 2:43 pm

They DO claim to “build better women”. They didn’t do badly with her!

Reply
Mike at the Beach August 20, 2015 at 10:26 pm

Very likely NOT. Have you walked that campus lately?

Reply
shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 10:34 pm

Not in the past 12 years…

Reply
Mike at the Beach August 20, 2015 at 10:43 pm

The hot chickie in the photo is in no way indicative or representative of the current crop of “C-squared” girls… ;-)

shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 11:01 pm

Oh, gee whiz…. thanks

too old to know August 21, 2015 at 1:19 pm

ok, for us un-hip/uninformed, what’s c-squared?

brain fart eneded August 21, 2015 at 1:20 pm

never mind

Mike at the Beach August 21, 2015 at 8:07 pm

Sorry…a little Columbia College slang. Columbia College = CC = C squared.

E Norma Scok August 21, 2015 at 4:24 pm

Nor were they ever.

Mike at the Beach August 21, 2015 at 8:05 pm

True enough…

Mark M. August 20, 2015 at 1:37 pm

She did something correctly in the photo. What is it?

Reply
Crooner August 20, 2015 at 1:51 pm

Put her panties on OVER her garter. Obvie.

Reply
Mark M. August 20, 2015 at 2:53 pm

We have a WINNER!

Reply
dwb619 August 20, 2015 at 8:26 pm

Is that the DONALD’s latest?

Reply
Nölff August 20, 2015 at 12:04 pm

Just go to Vegas and buy a whore.

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 12:17 pm

Or West Columbia.

Reply
CorruptionInColumbia August 20, 2015 at 12:51 pm

Yeah, but aren’t they all on crack or meth?

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 3:16 pm

Bam!!!!! Ba-ba-bam!!!!!

Reply
Crooner August 20, 2015 at 1:14 pm

No such thing as free pussy.

Reply
CorruptionInColumbia August 20, 2015 at 1:44 pm

Hey Crooner, have you made your tour to Russia, yet? If so, how’d it go?

Reply
Crooner August 20, 2015 at 2:13 pm

A great trip. The weather wasn’t as cool as I hoped but still better than here. They are a capitalist society now: I saw Rolls Royces, Bentleys and Maybachs on the streets of Moscow. Most of the wealth is in the hands of the few, much like here. The difference is Putin can put the touch on them to fund things like the Olympics. Sanctions are hurting their economy and the Ruble is sliding as against the dollar. Guide went out of her way to explain that Crimea has been historically Russian and that the annexation was bloodless. The other interesting thing is that our guide believed that Americans participated in the 1980 Olympics under the Olympic flag.

Reply
TroubleBaby August 20, 2015 at 2:35 pm

“They are a capitalist society now: I saw Rolls Royces, Bentleys and Maybachs on the streets of Moscow. Most of the wealth is in the hands of the few, much like here.”

You’re mistaking capitalism for oligachy, which is what the US has to some extent as well.

Regardless, I’m jealous…Moscow is on my bucket list, I’ll probably do Prague on the same trip when the timing is right.

Crooner August 20, 2015 at 3:34 pm

I stayed at a Marriot, and there is a Four Seasons on Red Square. Not to mention McDonalds, Subway and Starbucks.

Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 3:47 pm

Let’s get to brass tacks here. How are the women?

Crooner August 20, 2015 at 3:51 pm

Stunning. At least the younger ones.

shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 7:16 pm

Did you meet our Olga, from Columbia who returned there? She danced at Platinum Plus. (I have some stunning nude photos from her).

CorruptionInColumbia August 20, 2015 at 2:37 pm

Sounds like an interesting journey! Cool!!!!

Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 3:16 pm

Wow, they’ve adopted our education system too?

Crooner August 20, 2015 at 3:35 pm

They say education and health care was better under Soviet rule.

Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 3:15 pm

Damned straight. But if the ROI is good, it’s priceless.

Reply
shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 7:22 pm

Rocky, if no money or goods change hands, then the price (shivering/quaking) is …. TALK!

Reply
busted August 20, 2015 at 12:16 pm

I guess we now know what emails Hillary was trying to delete on her server

Reply
shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 12:17 pm

Hillary has Huma, her carry-on baggage, with her at all times.

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 12:49 pm

Huma is sort of hot.

Reply
shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 1:06 pm

yeeessss..!!

Reply
CorruptionInColumbia August 20, 2015 at 1:37 pm

… at least until you think about her tongue in Hillary’s hoo-ha or Hillary’s in hers. Normally, the thought of two women doing that is pleasing…, just not with Hillary.

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 3:14 pm

Ahhh!!! Tooth brush and Crest takes care of that.

shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 3:32 pm

(you made me do this)
—————————
Two cougars are prowling through the swamp and meet up. They start prowling in single file and the one behind keeps licking the anus of the cougar in front. “Will you stop that,” says the first cougar , “It’s getting really annoying”’ “I’m sorry,’ says the second cougar. “But I just ate Hillary Clinton and I’m trying to get the taste out of my mouth.”

Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 3:47 pm

All that does is justify Monica and make Bill the victim.

shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 3:29 pm

— or that she is married to the “Weiner”

dwb619 August 20, 2015 at 8:29 pm

Get back to me after watching for 5 minutes!

TroubleBaby August 20, 2015 at 1:15 pm

Does she carry her around like a bowling ball?

:)

Reply
shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 1:16 pm

heh! heh! heh!

Reply
dwb619 August 20, 2015 at 8:28 pm

And a FINE example she is!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply
TroubleBaby August 20, 2015 at 12:45 pm

Ashley Madison should have just closed the doors, waited for 6 months, & re-opened under a different name.

Instead, they’ll have their doors shut by the customers they failed to protect via the tidal wave of lawsuits coming their way for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, & a host of other shit attorney’s can come up with.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m grabbing my bag of popcorn to watch and patting myself on the back for being a good boy while enjoying the ensuing mayhem(marriage can be tough & I love my wife, I can’t imagine how tough it is for people who no longer love their spouses)- so I’m not exactly defending the adulterers…but I’m just astounded at the degree of continual lack of competency exhibited by Ashley Madison.

They deserve what they get, which will probably be the world’s biggest lawsuit.

Reply
Crooner August 20, 2015 at 1:11 pm

No, they’ll simply go bankrupt and wipe away their liability. Ain’t our Federal Code grand?

Reply
TroubleBaby August 20, 2015 at 1:14 pm

“No, they’ll simply go bankrupt and wipe away their liability. Ain’t our Federal Code grand?”

They’ll have to do restructuring to remain in existence…and that will be financially painful for them. Not only that, but they’ve opened the window to more competitors and years of lawsuits before the eventual bankruptcy.

If they’d have closed the doors & socked away their profits they’d have protected their customers and had plenty of money to kickstart another site without all the pain.

Reply
Jackie Chiles August 20, 2015 at 2:51 pm

(guy who’s never heard of insurance)

Reply
TroubleBaby August 20, 2015 at 3:07 pm

That’s a good point, though I have to wonder what their umbrella coverage is(in dollars)…something tells me it’s not enough.

Reply
Oh Snap August 20, 2015 at 4:19 pm

There are things insurance won’t have to cover. Pretty sure all those people who paid $20 to have their info deleted and didn’t happen will not be paid out by insurance due to the company being dishonest. That should be the company’s sole liability.

Reply
Jackie Chiles August 20, 2015 at 4:21 pm

Depends on the policy. They probably won’t get anything for AM breaching the contract as insurance companies don’t insure contracts, but they might get something for negligent data retention/security measures.

TroubleBaby August 20, 2015 at 8:13 pm

You don’t think they’ll potentially have claims beyond their $20?

Right Before Their IPO Too August 20, 2015 at 2:48 pm

They were on the verge of going bigtime and didn’t take a serious threat seriously enough. Let that mutha fucka burn!

Reply
vicupstate August 20, 2015 at 3:37 pm

I had never heard of it, but 33 million members sounds pretty ‘big time’ to me.

Reply
CorruptionInColumbia August 20, 2015 at 12:57 pm

I’m still hoping that in addition to the multitudes of religious huckster hypocrites (both large and small), scumbag politicians, and combinations of the two, there are several past and present SC Sheriffs who believed it their place to define who their deputies could and could not sleep with. This is going to be fun.

Reply
The Buzzman August 20, 2015 at 1:06 pm

Now, that hot pic right there brings back memories of the FITS that usesta wuz.

Reply
shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 2:29 pm

(sigh) ….

Reply
Stories We Can Tell Grandkids August 20, 2015 at 3:02 pm

I remember when FITSNews use to have them hot girl jiffs and jay-pegs every week! Those were the good ole days…

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 3:11 pm

Ooops – there goes the afternoon coffee all over the screen. Bam!!!

Reply
shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 7:25 pm

I saved a bunch of them (lucky me). Tell me the truth, now, who didn’t save some of those fotos of Taylor, for example?

Reply
dwb619 August 20, 2015 at 8:31 pm

How ’bout old BBQ bimbo on the boat?
I will grovel if it is required.

Reply
shifty henry August 20, 2015 at 8:57 pm

saved most of those…. she’s hot as a firecracker

sandamhernandez August 21, 2015 at 2:03 am

????????????????????????????????????? my amigo’s sister makes 83$$/hour on the web……..on saturday I got a top of the degree audi since getting a check for 4216$$ this most recent 4 weeks in addition, ten thousand last-munth . irrefutably about it, this really is the most enamoring occupation Ive had . I really began six months/earlier and on an extremely fundamental level straight away was making more than 87$$ p/h . endeavor this site..

????? tinyurl.com/Work2pReportOnlineaq1 ???????????????????????????????? GO TO THIS AND CLICK NEXT LINK INSIDE IT FOR WORK DETAILS AND HLP

Mike at the Beach August 20, 2015 at 10:25 pm

Only a longtime resident of the Redneck Riviera can utilize “usesta” in a sentence *and* spell it correctly…nice work, sir. ;-)

Reply
The Buzzman August 21, 2015 at 12:14 am

Uh, thankyewvurrymuch.

Reply
mamatiger92 August 20, 2015 at 2:24 pm

From the Daily Mail:

FEDERAL AND STATE OFFICE EMAILS THAT CAME UP MOST IN LIST OF ALLEGED ASHLEY MADISON USERS

FEDERAL

Army – 6788

Navy – 1665

United States Marine Corp – 809

Veterans Association – 104

Bureau of Prisons – 88

Navy Medicine – 62

Army – 55

US Postal Service – 52

US Coast Guard – 46

Department of Homeland Security – 45

White House – 44

Social Security Administration – 42

State Department – 33

NASA – 28

Federal Aviation Administration – 17

STATE

Kentucky State Government – 73

New York Department of Education – 27

Montgomery County, Maryland – 22

Michigan – 21

Oklahoma City – 21

Maine – 14

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey – 14

Utah – 13

Arizona Department of Corrections – 11

Baltimore City – 11

WTH is going on in Kentucky?

Reply
TroubleBaby August 20, 2015 at 2:32 pm

They elected a guy named “Randy” didn’t they?

:)

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 3:13 pm

NY/NJ Port Authority – those were the guys who shut down the bridge, right. THe weasel-looking guy and the hot divorcee Bridgette? I wonder – just wonder.

Reply
Rocky Verdad August 20, 2015 at 3:14 pm

Dang, Army sure beat Navy that time. Colonel? You want to jump in here?

Reply
easterndumbfuckistan August 20, 2015 at 10:54 pm

The Army is the largest branch. I saw a news article that said the Navy had the highest per person count.

Reply

Leave a Comment