Red faces as Ashley Madison data made public

There may have been more than a few embarrassed people around the country as the news broke that the data from the Ashley Madison hack had been made public.

The website, which offered married people the opportunity to meet others for affairs, was hit by an attack last month that leaked data on millions of users around the world, from contact details and credit card information to nude photographs and sexual fantasies. Among the 37 million people affected were thousands of Irish users.

The group that claimed responsibility for the attack, Impact Team, had threatened to make the information public in the days following the incident; this week, they followed through with their threats.

The data dump on the dark web - a sub-level of the internet not accessible by normal web browsers - contained email address for US government officials, UK civil servants and high-level executives at European and North America corporations.

However, there may A way out for those who are concerned their extra curricular activities may come to light; it is not known how many of the email addresses are genuine, as Ashley Madison does not require users to verify their addresses. That means made-up, out-of-use and invalid addresses could have been used to register for the site.

Among those who found their email contacts on the list were SNP MP Michelle Thomson, who represents the Edinburgh West constituency. She claimed the address had been harvested by hackers, and she had never had any contact with the site.

“Along with potentially millions of others, an out-of-use email address seems to have been harvested by hackers,” she said. “I am not aware of or in contact with either Avid Life or Ashley Madison and look forward to finding out more about what has actually happened.

“However, having a personal email address linked to an account doesn’t mean that person is really a user of Ashley Madison.”

The incident has been a serious blow to Toronto-based assignation website firm Avid Life Media, which owns Ashley Madison and has indefinitely postponed the adultery site’s IPO plans.

The hackers’ move to identify members of the marital cheating website appeared aimed at maximum damage to the company, which also runs websites such as Cougarlife.com and EstablishedMen.com, causing public embarrassment to its members, rather than financial gain.

“Find yourself in here?,” said the group, which calls itself the Impact Team, in a statement alongside the data dump.

“It was [Avid Life Media] that failed you and lied to you. Prosecute them and claim damages. Then move on with your life. Learn your lesson and make amends. Embarrassing now, but you’ll get over it.”

Additional reporting: agencies