How Far Will the Damage from the Ashley Madison Hack Go?

The real damage that will linger is that those on the list must live with the knowledge that someday their spouses may find out.

By Rachel Alexander Published on September 5, 2015

People all over the world are reeling over the release of private data from millions of users who used an extramarital cheating site, Ashley Madison. A hacker — or it might have been an inside job — leaked 37 million accounts as a torrent file to the Dark Web, a semi-anonymized corner of the Internet where it is difficult for law enforcement to intervene.  Of those accounts, about two-thirds are considered legitimate and the rest are fake profiles. The information includes email addresses, usernames, names and addresses if a credit card was used, and even sexual preferences.

The hacker, who goes by the name Impact Team, next released all the personal emails from the CEO, Noel Biderman, and says private chats between users and non-risque photos may be next. After evidence of 11 extramarital affairs, including four escorts, came out in Biderman’s emails, he resigned. Ironically, his wife was the model for billboards advertising the company. Biderman had previously denied that he had ever cheated on his wife. 

Some of the users will probably never be discovered, if they did not use a credit card tied to their name, or a traceable login name and email address. While the data is mostly only accessible on the Dark Web, which takes some technical knowledge to access, someone may very likely put it on the regular Internet where it may become searchable in Google. So far, Ashley Madison is threatening DMCA violations against sites on the regular Internet that attempt to post the data. One site that hasn’t been shut down allows anyone to search for a particular email address, and will indicate whether or not it was found in the Ashley Madison data dump. Law enforcement is trying to track down the hacker, but the cat is already out of the bag.

So far, the ramifications have been alarming. Several high-profile celebrities and politicians have been outed, including Christian reality TV star Josh Duggar. Some are apologizing and trying to make amends with their spouses. Others are trying to lie their way out of it. Some claim it wasn’t them, saying someone must have misused their email address. (Ashley Madison does not require users to confirm their email address). So far a few people are making the claim, including British MP Michelle Thompson and former Tory police minister Damian Green. However, whoever signed up for Green’s account knew his mother’s maiden name and provided it. Another politician said he signed up for the site for “opposition research.”

The hack will affect some users’ employment but not others. For government employees who used their official email addresses, it is a misuse of resources. The military forbids extramarital affairs, and several thousand signed up using military email addresses. Users who signed up with an email address from a private employer also may be subject to discipline for misusing company resources. So far, government agencies appear to be looking the other way, with some saying they will not conduct investigations.

Not everyone is faring so well with their employers. High-profile cheaters who work for Christian or conservative organizations may likely lose their jobs, and some already have. It has been reported that at least a couple of people have already committed suicide, including a Texas police chief.

A subreddit on the popular discussion board Reddit was started to discuss the hack, and hundreds, if not thousands, of Ashley Madison users are consoling each other and offering advice. Many say they are suicidal. Most don’t know whether their spouses or employers will find out, and realize the risk may lie out there for weeks, months or even years for up to as many as 25 million people. That is damage that will linger: those on the list must live with the knowledge that someday their spouses may find out — and that their intimate conversations and photos may someday be released, too.

Scammers and blackmailers are emailing those exposed in the database, threatening to contact their spouses (by figuring out who they are through Facebook) unless they send them a large bitcoin payment. Law enforcement agencies are investigating the blackmailing, and victims are warned not to respond and to shut down their email accounts. Foreign intelligence agencies have admitted they are scouring the data looking for information to use against spies.

Once most of the high-profile celebrities, politicians and big names in business have been outed, most of the scandal will die down in the media.

The hacker doesn’t rule out targeting other websites. Some wonder how far the hacker will go. Can the person hack Facebook and Twitter and expose every private chat and message? Are porn sites next?

The reaction from the public has been mixed. One half thinks the cheaters deserved it. The other half thinks the hack went too far. Putting it into perspective, the cheaters weren’t just caught by their spouses; the whole world potentially knows, including their employers, and not only do they know about the cheating, but they know intimate sexual details about some of them, and maybe even private chats in the future. Some who joined the site did so only out of idle curiosity and never interacted with anyone — but how could they convince others of this?

Christians are always accused of being judgmental. So what would Jesus do? When the legalistic moral leaders of Biblical times brought an adulteress to Jesus whom they wanted to stone, he saved her life by saying to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” He then told her he did not condemn her, but to sin no more.

The lesson learned from this horrific event, besides the obvious one (i.e., Don’t cheat on your spouse!) is, don’t put anything online you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of your town newspaper.

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