Breach, Compliance Management, Data Security, Privacy

Ashley Madison user base surges post summer cyber-attack

Up from 39 million at the time of the July 2015 hacking that exposed almost every user, more than 43.4 million members are registered on infidelity website Ashley Madison.

The personal information of more than 32 million users was invaded in the hack, which led to many class-action suits of customers blaming the site for the failure of protecting their data securely.

Impact Team who claimed responsibility for the hack said they attacked Ashley Madison since the website lied to its users when they promised to remove personal details from its websites for a fee of $19 (£13). They wanted to shame the company and teach users a lesson.

“Full Delete (paid delete) netted [Ashley Madison] $1.7M (£1.1M) in revenue in 2014. It's also a complete lie. Users almost always pay with credit card; their purchase details are not removed as promised, and include real name and address, which is of course the most important information the users want removed,” Impact Team said in a proclamation.

Avid Life Media, Ashley Madison's parent company commented on the growing membership back on 31 August following the major hack, “Despite having our business and customers attacked, we are growing. This past week alone, hundreds of thousands of new users signed up for the Ashley Madison platform — including 87,596 women.” 

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