Hackers post purported stolen Ashley Madison data

(Image credit: Twitter.com/CBCNews)

last updated 19 August 2015

On Tuesday, a month after threatening to release data stolen during a breach, hackers posted gigabytes of personal information, including email addresses and encrypted passwords, of people they say are Ashley Madison members.

Ashley Madison, owned by Avid Life Media, is an online dating site for people looking to cheat on their spouses. The hackers, calling themselves Impact Team, said they would post the information if Avid Life Media didn't shut down Ashley Madison and Established Men, another dating website for women looking to meet rich men. On Tuesday, they posted 9.7 gigabytes of information online, including logins and payment transaction details, The New York Times reports.

Avid Life Media released a statement saying it is looking into the breach and working with the FBI and law enforcement in Canada. They are also investigating the validity of the information posted online. "This event is not an act of hacktivism, it's an act of criminality," the company said. "It is an illegal action against the individual members of AshleyMadison.com, as well as any free-thinking people who choose to engage in fully lawful online activities."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.