Thousands of cheating spouses working in the highest quarters of the U.S. government have been identified today in a major global hack of adultery dating site Ashley Madison.
Users of the infidelity site were sent scrambling to control the damage - and save their marriages - after hackers exposed them and dumped 9.7 gigabytes of personal data about the controversial seduction forum used by 37 million worldwide.
Names, ages, addresses, phone numbers, credit card details and detailed sexual fantasies have been leaked.
15,000 users have been found to be registered under .gov and .mil email addresses - the official domain names of the American military and government. Other institutions rocked by the leaks include famed educational institutions like Harvard and Yale, and global bodies such as the Vatican and the UN.
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New scandal: The Ashley Madison website promises its 37 million members worldwide complete 'anonymity' and has the motto: 'Life is short. Have an affair' - but all its users had their details leaked
Warning: Impact Team say Ashley Madison members should not have anonymity because they are 'cheating dirtbags and deserve no such discretion' as they published the data in full
Set up: A 9.7 gigabyte data file has been posted to the dark web claiming to have account details and log-ins and even credit card details of people who use the social networking site to have affairs
Employers from huge companies such as Boeing, JP Morgan, Bank of America and Sony were also said to be part of the list.
The website has long boasted about their D.C. recruits - claiming 59,000 residents are currently members. The district has had the highest number of registrations across America for the last three years.
Many of the leaked profiles show how users were sharing their political beliefs in a bids to entice like-minded potential lovers. Profiles come entitled, 'a Democrat who loves to kiss' or 'Staunchly Non-Republican but otherwise very open-minded', according to the Washington Post
However, those thousands who hoped their public profile would be limited to their broad political beliefs were given a rude awakening this morning.
A file entitled 'Time's Up!' was posted on the dark web by a group of hackers dubbing themselves 'Impact Team' who said they wanted to expose the globe's 'cheating dirtbags'.
The group has been threatening Avid Life Media with the information for some weeks - leaking small amounts as they went.
They demanded the website and it's sister site Established Men be taken down but the dating firm refused to be blackmailed.
So the group decided to make it's move with a huge data dump which has already given rise to a number of search engines promising concerned spouses the ability to check if their partners are listed through names, emails and even phone numbers.
'Avid Life Media has failed to take down Ashley Madison and Established Men. We have explained the fraud, deceit, and stupidity of ALM and their members. Now everyone gets to see their data', Impact Team said in their statement.
'Find yourself in here? It was ALM 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.'
Ashley Madison, which is known as the 'Google of cheating', has called the data breach 'an act of criminality' and the FBI is now investigating.
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ShareThe site promises its members complete 'anonymity' and has the motto: 'Life is short. Have an affair'. Now security experts say the data breach will not only end marriages but could also leave people open to blackmail.
The dark web files show the profile of every user, including their name, date of birth, home address, phone number, username and email address.
The hackers have previously claimed to have all profile pictures including naked shots.
Their sexual fantasies are also listed and also a description of the type of sexual partner they are looking to have an affair with.
A separate file allegedly also details credit card transactions although the website strongly denies they ever stored such data on their servers.
The majority of the 37 million users are married men but many of the email addresses have already been dismissed as false.
Ashley Madison doesn't verify addresses which means many users could have registered using the details of others or with made up contact details.
One user listed tblair@labour.gov.uk on his registration while another used barack.obama@whitehouse.gov.
Many of those contacted by Dailymail.com insisted the same thing had happened to them.
A Scottish politician was among those identified and said it was a smear campaign after her 'out-of-use' email address appeared on the list.
A British government worker said she was heartbroken but claimed she was just the victim of a malicious enemy.
THE 'CULPRITS': US FEDERAL AND STATE OFFICE EMAIL ADDRESSES THAT CAME UP THE MOST IN LIST OF ALLEGED ASHLEY MADISON USERS
FEDERAL
Army - 6788
Navy - 1665
United States Marine Corp - 809
Veterans Association - 104
Bureau of Prisons - 88
Navy Medicine - 62
Army - 55
US Postal Service - 52
US Coast Guard - 46
Department of Homeland Security - 45
White House - 44
Social Security Administration - 42
State Department - 33
NASA - 28
Federal Aviation Administration - 17
STATE
Kentucky State Government - 73
New York Department of Education - 27
Montgomery County, Maryland - 22
Michigan - 21
Oklahoma City - 21
Maine - 14
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey - 14
Utah - 13
Arizona Department of Corrections - 11
Baltimore City - 11
Domains supposedly from JP Morgan employers were released onto various web forums
A list of apparent United Nations employees were also revealed to be users of the site
Emails supposedly of employees from various departments at the University of Texas were also part of the email dump
Boeing and Bank of America also appeared in the email addresses of supposed users
HACKING VICTIMS EXPRESS SHOCK AT THEIR DETAILS BEING RELEASED
A married British politician today said she is the victim of a smear campaign after her email address was one of millions released in a data hack on infidelity website Ashley Madison.
Michelle Thomson, the Scottish National Party's representative for Edinburgh West, said her identity was 'harvested' by hackers who published details of the social network's 37million members.
The mother-of-two, who has two grown up children, said: 'Along with potentially millions of others, an out-of-use email address seems to have been harvested by hackers'.
'I 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'.
One Irish member said he is married but was 'inquisitive' about meeting other women.
He said: 'I did sign up but never used the account.
Victim: Married Edinburgh MP Michelle Thomson, pictured with Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon, said her identity was 'harvested' by hackers who falsely suggested she was an Ashley Madison member
'I'm a bit annoyed to be honest - I set it up with the intention of using it but was unable to access it due to work restrictions.
'Now my details are all over the internet'.
Other members insisted someone had stolen their identities for accounts.
One man said: 'I'm divorced and single so I'm not sure this site would be for me even if I'd joined, which I haven't.
'If you Googled me you would find all my personal details, including email address, and that's clearly what someone has done.
'It just shows how unsecure the internet is'.
A female member said she was 'heartbroken' after being named.
She said: 'I'm absolutely heartbroken. I'm married and would never do something like this. It must be malicious. I never knew I had enemies'.
She said: 'I'm absolutely heartbroken. I'm married and would never do something like this. It must be malicious. I never knew I had enemies'.
One Irish member working in local government said he had set up an account.
He told Dailymail.com he is married but was 'inquisitive' about meeting other women.
He said: 'I did sign up but never used the account.
'I'm a bit annoyed to be honest - I set it up with the intention of using it but was unable to access it due to work restrictions.
'Now my details are all over the internet'.
One banker, who is named as working for Bank of America and outed on the site today, describes himself as having a 'sex drive too high to handle'.
Setting out his sexual fantasies and explaining why he is cheating on his wife, he says: 'I need someone who is more sexual. I need someone who is willing to try anything'.
One file on a member named as Rickie from Ontario admitted he was married but says he is looking for sex with a woman who is 'good with her hands' and likes 'kinky fun, erotic movies and dressing up'.
Errata Security CEO Rob Graham, said he had counted more than 36 million accounts in the leak, although he believes that many appeared to be bogus.
WHAT DID THE HACKERS STEAL AND WHAT DATA HAVE THEY REVEALED?
Profile: This is a genuine profile of an American user of Ashley Madison, including her sexual preferences, although it has been put in this form by MailOnline for clarity
The hacking of Ashley Madison represents one of the biggest data breaches in online history, with the personal and most intimate details of users now published online.
Hackers have simply stolen all raw data about users and published them exactly as they appear on the website's database.
For example, the profile above purports to be for a woman from Arizona, in her twenties.
The leaked file on her reveals her account nickname, full name, date of birth address, zip code, phone numbers, email addresses, ethnicity, weight, height and even longitude and latitude of their home.
Users are also asked to set out what they are looking for, what kind of sexual partner they want and their sexual fantasies.
These are all numbered between 1 and 60, and an index explaining what these all mean have also been released by hackers.
The passwords of the users appear to be the only piece of information that was encrypted.
Security experts fear that this information could be abused by criminals willing to blackmail individuals or sell on their details.
James Maude, senior security engineer at Avecto said: 'A hidden danger here is the amount of data now out there and the impact this could have on areas such as national security, government policy and law enforcement.
'At first glance, it may look like the Ashley Madison data leak will cause nothing more than embarrassment. But this type of sensitive personal information can be used by criminals to generate serious leverage against an individual, when combined with details released from other attacks.
'It seems like Ashley Madison was cheating on its clients with a number of bad security and data storage practices. The breach shows employees using 'Password1234' and contains seven years of credit card transaction details. Researchers have verified that some of the credit cards are not only valid but still in daily use.
'Although the password for the accounts were stored in a way which makes wholesale decryption unlikely, it is entirely possible that a targeted attack on an individual account could crack the password. This could lead to the compromise of other accounts such as online banking or emails if a shared password was used.'
Crisis: CEO Noel Biderman, the self-styled 'King of Infidelity' who set up the website with his wife Amanda, believes that a hacker with ties to the site's technical services is the culprit behind the privacy breach
MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES WHOSE EMPLOYEES WERE 'EXPOSED'
Boeing
JP Morgan
Bank of America
Sony
Amazon
Raytheon
IMB
CNN
Warner Brothers
BBC UK
Little is known about the group behind the leaks but it appears they are more interested in targeting cheating men than women. Avid Media's Cougar Life was left off their target list.
Despite the major security breach all of the companies website were still online this afternoon.
In a statement the Canada-based firm said: 'There has been a substantial amount of postings since the initial posting, the vast majority of which have contained data unrelated to AshleyMadison.com but there has also been some data released that is legitimate.
'Furthermore, we can confirm that we do not — nor ever have — store credit card information on our servers.'
Previously describing the hack as 'an act of criminality', the company said it was fully cooperating with law enforcement to find the hackers.
'The criminal, or criminals, involved in this act have appointed themselves as the moral judge, juror, and executioner, seeing fit to impose a personal notion of virtue on all of society.
'We will not sit idly by and allow these thieves to force their personal ideology on citizens around the world.'
The FBI is investigating the cyber attack.
Warning: Last month the Impact Team posted this demand as it pledged to out adulterous members cheating on their spouses using the site
Popular: On its website, the company bills itself as 'the most famous name in infidelity and married dating
WHO ARE 'MORAL' HACKERS CALLED THE IMPACT TEAM?
The so-called Impact Team have billed themselves as 'moral' hackers who want to expose infidelity and corruption.
Unlike other high profile hacking groups like Lizard Squad and Anonymous, Impact Team have had much less publicity.
The group claims that its aims are not to make money, only to reveal alleged corruption and unmask 'dirtbag cheaters'.
In their statement threatening Ashley Madison's owners and members they said: 'We are not opportunistic skids. We are dedicated, focused, skilled, and we're never going away. If you profit off the pain of others, whatever it takes, we will completely own you'.
Impact Team appears to have gained a lot of supporters online, with some calling them 'moral crusaders'.
Avid Life Media, the firm behind Ashley Madison, believe the group may have an insider and say they are on the 'doorstep' of a culprit.
They have also called it a criminal act and will be working with the police to catch them and regain the data.
One theory is that the hackers were helped by an insider at Ashley Madison who helped them access members' details.
Before today's leak some experts said that their hack was about selling the data rather than a moral crusade, but today it appears that the theft was not about the money and a genuine threat.
CEO Noel Biderman, the self-styled 'King of Infidelity' who set up the website with his wife Amanda, believes that a hacker with ties to the site's technical services is the culprit behind the privacy breach.
'I've got their profile right in front of me, all their work credentials. It was definitely a person here that was not an employee but certainly had touched our technical services,' Biderman told Krebs On Security.
Last month, experts warned the stolen data could be sold on to criminal gangs or used to blackmail members.
One hacking insider, named only as Vinnie, told Sky News the valuable data will likely be sold on the 'Dark Web' to 'the highest bidder'.
The hackers have claimed that even cheaters who have paid Ashley Madison a $19 fee to delete their information from its files are at risk because they were never fully deleted.
'Full Delete netted ALM $1.7mm in revenue in 2014. It’s also a complete lie,' the Impact Team wrote last month. '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.'
The breach comes as a bitter blow to multi-millionaire Biderman, who controversially said he would use it to cheat on his own wife.
He claims the site is a help for couples who find themselves stuck in a rut or who want sex but don't want a divorce.
Users can browse Ashley Madison for free but buy credit to send messages to other members. 100 credits costs $49 and each message costs five credits.
Speaking to the London Evening Standard about his own marriage last year, he said: 'We're incredibly communicative about our sexual needs.
'But if I woke up beside my wife and it was the 200th day we hadn't been intimate with one another and it looked like nothing would change, I would cheat so fast.
'I would cheat long before I would get a divorce. If you have children that you love and a home that you built together and a future that you planned — why would you give that up just for sex?'
'The reason people have affairs is that they want to stay married.
'What I get is a lot of people who come back to me and say: 'Listen, this has made me a better partner.'
'They were angry and taking things out on their family. The sexual frustration they were feeling, they start having the affair and all of a sudden, that stress is removed. It's very cathartic for those people.
'If you come home and you've had an affair earlier in the day, it might be easier not to be frustrated with your partner. The conversation could take a different directional tone and that can lead to intimacy.
Mr Biderman came up with the idea for the extra-marital dating site in the 1990s, after a career as a sports attorney apparently made him realize how much time and money his clients spent on mistresses while they were away on tour.
He previously claimed the site was worth at least $1 billion.
However, Impact Team says they are also exposing a web of lies at the center of the website's mission and can prove the majority of the female profiles are fakes.
'90-95 per cent of actual users are male,' their statement says. 'Chances are your man signed up on the world's biggest affair site, but never had one. He just tried to. If that distinction matters.'
STATEMENT FROM COMPANY BEHIND CHEATING SITE ASHLEY MADISON
Noel Biderman, CEO of Avid Life Media with his wife Amanda (pictured together)
'Last month we were made aware of an attack to our systems. We immediately launched a full investigation utilizing independent forensic experts and other security professionals to assist with determining the origin, nature, and scope of this attack.
'Our investigation is still ongoing and we are simultaneously cooperating fully with law enforcement investigations, including by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Toronto Police Services and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
'We have now learned that the individual or individuals responsible for this attack claim to have released more of the stolen data.
'We are actively monitoring and investigating this situation to determine the validity of any information posted online and will continue to devote significant resources to this effort.
'Furthermore, we will continue to put forth substantial efforts into removing any information unlawfully released to the public, as well as continuing to operate our business.
'This event is not an act of hacktivism, it is an act of criminality. It is an illegal action against the individual members of AshleyMadison.com, as well as any freethinking people who choose to engage in fully lawful online activities.
'The criminal, or criminals, involved in this act have appointed themselves as the moral judge, juror, and executioner, seeing fit to impose a personal notion of virtue on all of society. We will not sit idly by and allow these thieves to force their personal ideology on citizens around the world. We are continuing to fully cooperate with law enforcement to seek to hold the guilty parties accountable to the strictest measures of the law.
'Every week sees new hacks disclosed by companies large and small, and though this may now be a new societal reality, it should not lessen our outrage.
'These are illegitimate acts that have real consequences for innocent citizens who are simply going about their daily lives.
'Regardless, if it is your private pictures or your personal thoughts that have slipped into public distribution, no one has the right to pilfer and reveal that information to audiences in search of the lurid, the titillating, and the embarrassing.
'We know that there are people out there who know one or more of these individuals, and we invite them to come forward.
'While we are confident that the authorities will identify and prosecute each of them to the fullest extent of the law, we also know there are individuals out there who can help to make this happen faster.
'Anyone with information that can lead to the identification, arrest and conviction of these criminals, can contact information@avidlifemedia.com
Admission: Noel Biderman, CEO of Avid Life Media, who owns the dating web site, admits he would cheat on his wife if heir sex life dried up
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