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Ashley Madison Hack

Page history last edited by Amanda Sparling 8 years, 7 months ago

Ashley Madison Hack

By: Amanda Sparling

Description & History
1. Description
2. History
Appeal and Audience
Social and Cultural Factors
Resources / Further Information

(Refer to the assignment sheet for the type of information that goes in these sections)

Description & History

Description

Name: Ashley Madison Hack

Purpose: Ashley Madison is an online dating website for married individuals who are looking to have an affair has recently made headlines following a data harvest and release by the Hacking group, Moniker Impact team.

Production value (amateur, "prosumer," professional): Professional, Activist

Summary / Description:

Ashley Madison, a site owned by Avid Life Media, prides itself on delivering a high-class, highly confidential service to facilitate extramarital liasons is the subject of controversy with wide-spread ramifications for over 37 million of its current and former users. The site was recently a victim of a high-profile and widely publicized hack in which customer information, data, communication and user-base statistics were pulled and publicly released exposing active users across all socioeconomic statuses after demands for the site to be taken down by the hacking group, Moniker Impact Team, were ignored.

Hacks occur across the world, every day, however this is notable as it is widely revered by the public for its objectives being rooted in a “moral high ground” something that offers a stark contrast to other hacks done for political, monetary or unethical motives gaining wider public acceptance than any prior example of “hacktivism” that has taken place in the past.

Additionally, the ripple effect of this hack has continued to gain momentum as public figures, prominent religious leaders and less notable individuals have felt the ramifications of being exposed as a user of the illicit site and experienced extreme backlash both publicly and privately as a result.

History

Ashely Madison was launched in 2001.

The original data breach was reported in July of 2015, with records of extracted data stretching from July 1 to July 11^th.

On July 19^th the Hacking team released a manifesto and set of demands requiring Avid Life Media to take down AshleyMadison.com and related illicit sites threatening the release of sensitive customer data and internal communications.

August 18^th exactly 30 days later, the hackers released the data after ALM failed to meet their demands.

Throughout the past month the ramifications of the release has intensified as the public has been sorting through the data dump, inspiring parodies and “witch hunts” targeting exposed users who are both public and private figures. Most notably, religious figures such as Josh Duggar and local pastors have received the bulk of the public backlash alongside a surprisingly large number of federal employees (over 15,000 government emails) including assistant US attorneys, a technology administrator in the Executive Office of the President, a division chief, an investigator and a trial attorney in the Justice department, a government hacker at the Homeland Security Department and members of the U.S. counterterrorism response team.

Appeal and Audience

The audience here is extremely varied, with ramifications stretching worldwide across all socioeconomic statuses with almost 40 million people’s personal data released.

The salaciousness of this attack seems highly contangious, with little remorse for those participating in the “witch hunts” due to the moral high ground in which bystanders believe they occupy.

Social and Cultural Factors

Discussion Points:

Extortion attempts framed as simply, “Karma”

Is this different from cyber-bullying, something widely condoned by the same communities who accept the morality of this hack?

Why is the public responding positively to this, but negatively to other examples of “altruistic hacktivism”?

The conservative community who is widely approving of the “Karma” factor involved here have in the past rejected hacks against financial institutions and political figures that are framed as a moral response to unethical activities.

· Will this change the reception of future hacks?
· Is this a one-time change in perception due to the personal/openly deceptive nature of the users?

This hack is also largely regarded as a security “wake-up” call to users who obliviously share their information online, assuming that the use of words such as secure and confidential offer any protection.

Ironically, the company charged users an extra fee to fully cleanse their data from the site and its associated servers – while performing no such service.

Additionally, there is a substantial amount of misleading information and user interactions that have been staged by the service itself - creating an illusion of an active female user base when none such exists. The "FemBot" army, as named by Gizmodo, was responsible for the majority of online interactions between men and women with the ratio of men checking messages to women checking messages was 13,585 : 1. Reference: http://gizmodo.com/almost-none-of-the-women-in-the-ashley-madison-database-1725558944