Ashley Madison was praised for keeping it user information safe and secured until 33 million members participation and activity was revealed after hackers was able to breach the system and leaked customer data including partial credit card numbers, billing addresses and even GPS coordinates. Email account associated with .gov or military was also discovered indicating spill of high profile information. This is an interesting incident because it talks about bcrypt password hash was put in place by the company that averted the risk of use of stolen password, it also takes about MD5 cryptographic hash function. Violation of privacy and stealing information is a serious crime, both morally and legally. I strongly feel that these types of incident
…show more content…
Avid Life Media, the parent company of Ashley Madison, announced that its CEO, Noel Biderman, stepped down after a month of breach. Besides user information, the released data and email suggested that the company was engaged in questionable business practices like overstating how many women actually used the website. According to New York Times, one analysis showed that roughly, out of 34 million users, only 15 percent were female, and out of that, only few profiles were active. This could constitute deceptive trade practice that could lead Avid media in to investigation by Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Similarly, data archive of the CEO also reveals email exchange between Mr. Biderman and Mr. Raja Bhatia (Technology Officer) in 2012. The emails indicated the conversation leading to download and manipulate other competitor’s website such as nerve.com and flirt.com. The conversation also seemed predictive where Mr. Bhatia wrote, “There will be an eventual security crisis amongst one of your properties and the media will leap on it as they always do,” in one of the leaked email. Prosecutors could use this information to charge Avid life executives under Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which makes it crime for unauthorized trespass. Additionally, both the companies, Nerve.com and Flirt.com could sue for civil
Avid Life Media, the parent company of Ashley Madison, announced that its CEO, Noel Biderman, stepped down after a month of breach. Besides user information, the released data and email suggested that the company was engaged in questionable business practices like overstating how many women actually used the website. According to New York Times, one analysis showed that roughly, out of 34 million users, only 15 percent were female, and out of that, only few profiles were active. This could constitute deceptive trade practice that could lead Avid media in to investigation by Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Similarly, data archive of the CEO also reveals email exchange between Mr. Biderman and Mr. Raja Bhatia (Technology Officer) in 2012. The emails indicated the conversation leading to download and manipulate other competitor’s website such as nerve.com and flirt.com. The conversation also seemed predictive where Mr. Bhatia wrote, “There will be an eventual security crisis amongst one of your properties and the media will leap on it as they always do,” in one of the leaked email. Prosecutors could use this information to charge Avid life executives under Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which makes it crime for unauthorized trespass. Additionally, both the companies, Nerve.com and Flirt.com could sue for civil