Breach, Compliance Management, Data Security, Privacy

Ashley Madison’s Noel Biderman ousted as CEO

ALM CEO Noel Biderman may be the latest victim of the massive AshleyMadison.com hack with the company announcing his immediate resignation today.

“Effective today, Noel Biderman, in mutual agreement with the company, is stepping down as Chief Executive Officer of Avid Life Media Inc. (ALM) and is no longer with the company,” the company said on its website. "This change is in the best interest of the company and allows us to continue to provide support to our members and dedicated employees. We are steadfast in our commitment to our customer base."

In the interim the company will be led by the existing senior management team.

The adultery site was initially hacked in July with the attackers dumping gigabytes of ALM and customer personal data earlier this month.

In other Ashley Madison fallout, Intel Security's Messaging Security Team is reporting a spat of spam emails based on the hack of the adult site that attempt to either extort money or simply monetize the phishing scam.

The group has found emails with the following subject lines:

  • ·        Hacked: Emails by Ashley Madison
  • ·        How to Check if You Were Exposed in Ashley Madison Hack
  • ·        How to search the Ashley Madison leak

The monetization effort simply redirects the victim to install a toolbar from which the spammer is then paid by an affiliate. In the extortion cases Intel saw the hacker threatening to reveal that the victim was on Ashley Madison and demanding a bitcoin payment.

"With both campaigns, no evidence was found indicating  recipients were targeted by leaked data, so the risk is not limited to Ashley Madison clientele," the report stated. "Our research indicates that even the idly curious are at risk."

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