Ashley Madison, which suffered a data breach in 2015 involving the loss of 37 million users’ personal and financial information, has settled the suit for $11.2 million....more
According to the Breach Level Index, the total number of data records lost or stolen in just the first half of 2016 was 554,454,942, stemming from 974 breach incidents. In the entire year of 2015, there were 707.5 million...more
Remember the 2015 AshleyMadison.com data breach, where hackers gained access to the personal information of about 36 million users from over 46 countries, and threatened and carried through on their promise to release the...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has entered into a multimillion dollar settlement with the owners and operators of AshleyMadison.com, a dating website for people interested in having discreet affairs, related to the...more
Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced a settlement with the owners of “dating site” AshleyMadison.com, arising from a July 2015 data breach that received broad media coverage. According to a proposed...more
We have previously reported on the Ashley Madison data breach and subsequent litigation. On December 14th, Ashley Madison announced that it has agreed to pay $1.6 million and implement additional security measures to settle...more
Companies that are hacked face a range of repercussions, such as notifying clients and customers that the privacy of their information has been compromised and implementing a new security system. In July 2015, it was highly...more
In the world of cyber hacks and leaks, there are two general categories of players: the fraudsters who steal data in order to obtain a profit, and the “hacktivists” who expose data, purportedly for the greater good....more
Nothing good has come from the Ashley Madison hacking incident, except hopefully some well-deserved apologies to loved ones. Now the E.D. Mo. Court hearing the In Re Ashley Madison Customer Security Breach Litigation, MDL No....more
On April 29, 2016, Judge Ross issued his ruling on Ashley Madison’s motion for a protective order, prohibiting Plaintiffs from using the leaked documents, reports quoting the leaked documents, and information “stolen from...more
We’ve previously written about the distinctions between hacking credit and other financial data in comparison to hacking private information. (See Ashley Madison and Coming to “Terms” with Data Protection.) The issue of how...more
We all remember the Ashley Madison data breach. The hackers, calling themselves “The Impact Team” requested that the Ashley Madison extramarital affair site, and Cougar Life and Established Men sites be “taken down.” When...more
Every business would love to find a fortune teller to give it insight into what trends to follow, which risks to take, and when “exposure” will convert to liability. Some clients might say that, unfortunately, their lawyers...more
Add dating website Ashley Madison to the list of large companies like Target, Home Depot and Michael’s that have had customer information stolen by hackers. Published reports say Ashley Madison is now facing multiple lawsuits...more
Anonymous users of the almost 40 million users of the Ashley Madison website have filed suit against internet service providers (ISPs) GoDaddy and Amazon alleging that they have been damaged because the ISPs hosted the stolen...more
AshleyMadison.com is a Canadian-based on-line dating service for the married or others in a committed relationship. Its slogan is “Life is short. Have an affair.” In July, hackers stole its customer data, including names,...more
Imagine a guy, a married guy, more specifically an unhappily married guy, and even more specifically an unhappily married guy lacking a moral compass. The guy creates a discrete (ha!) profile on AshleyMadison.com, a dating...more
The Ashley Madison saga has captured the attention of the public and legal profession like few prior data security breaches. The reasons are obvious: A website devoted to promoting infidelity is called out for “fraud, deceit,...more
The recent Ashley Madison breach exposed millions of users who’d signed up to the site, believing they were doing so with full anonymity. Social media and news outlets helped fuel a storm that will not soon be forgotten. In...more
That infamous Ashley Madison data became searchable last week. Spouses, friends, and employers can now search the data to see if they know anyone who registered with the site. This development caused some to wonder if an...more
We previously reported that hackers The Impact Team had posted legitimate detailed information about 36 million adultery website Ashley Madison users. In the wake of the shocking posting of the data last week, two class...more
As more names emerge from the dark web data dump of Ashley Madison customers, lawyers around the globe have found a very willing group of would-be plaintiffs. Interestingly, all of these plaintiffs are named “Doe,” which must...more
Everyone is speculating that the Ashley Madison hack will mean an increase in business for divorce lawyers. This remains to be seen. However, the real question is what happens if your name appears on the list of users? And...more
Internet commenters and legal analysts alike are buzzing about the Ashley Madison hack. The website -- which billed itself as a networking site for anyone who wanted to discretely arrange an extramarital affair -- has already...more