Yahoo News Sex, Lies and Scandal: The Ashley Madison hack, what happened and who was exposed
A new documentary exploring the data breach that exposed millions of affairs, wrecked marriages and destroyed lives is dropping on Netflix. Extramarital dating app Ashley Madison saw users' private data become public when it was hacked in 2015.
The controversial 'married dating' site was the first of its kind, founded by Canadian businessman Darren Morgenstern in 2001. He had been inspired by a statistic that claimed 30% of people on existing dating sites were married.
Ashley Madison enticed droves of users looking for excitement with the tagline: "Life is short. Have an affair." The site claimed, due to its discreet nature, to have extensive security measures - but the data breach and its fallout proved otherwise. Some 36 million users' details were released, including those of celebrities who'd used the service.
Three-part Netflix series, Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal, hears from those behind the app and its users on how the mayhem unfolded. Former vice president of sales Evan Back features, as well as ex-CEO Noel Biderman in archived footage.
Read on to find out what was revealed in the hack, who was exposed and whether or not the app is still running.
How does Ashley Madison work?
Like any other dating app, users sign up to Ashley Madison by creating a profile and go on to message other members. Its business model is based on credits rather than monthly subscriptions.
For a conversation between two members, one of the members - always the man - must pay eight credits to initiate the conversation. There is also a real-time chat feature where credits buy a certain time allotment.
Users have to pay a $19 fee to delete their accounts. The 'full delete' option claims to wipe all information on users, including profiles, messages, identifiable information and photos. But the 2015 hack proved that all data was recoverable.
What was revealed in the hack?
On 19 July 2015, a supposed hacker or group of hackers only identified as The Impact Team confirmed its attack on Ashley Madison. The group threatened to expose the identities of site users unless its parent company, Avid Life Media (ALM), shut the site down.
In response, Ashley Madison released a statement claiming it had been able to secure its site and also waived its deletion fee. But two days later, more than 2,500 customer records were leaked. People's email addresses, photos, credit card details and even their sexual desires were among the information released.
On August 18, more than 60 gigabytes of data was released, with a message from The Impact Team reading: "We have explained the fraud, deceit, and stupidity of ALM and their members. Now everyone gets to see their data ... Too bad for ALM, you promised secrecy but didn't deliver."
Ashley Madison was hit with another blow when a second data dump was released days later on August 20. This time it included corporate emails, including those from CEO Biderman.
In July 2017, ALM agreed to settle around 24 lawsuits stemming from the breach for $11.2 million.
Who was exposed in the hack?
A number of famous faces were caught out by the data leak. Family influencer Sam Rader was among those exposed. He and his wife Nia tell their story in Netflix's Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal.
The data leak came three days after the couple publicly confirmed their pregnancy had ended in miscarriage. The Christian couple made a YouTube video addressing the leak. Standing side-by-side with Nia, Sam denied ever meeting anyone face-to-face from the site nor having an affair.
The couple took a break from posting content, but welcomed a daughter the following year. They returned to YouTube and welcomed another daughter in 2021.
Sam and Nia are still together to this day, sharing family life with children Symphony, 13, Abram, 10, and Juliet, 7, and Josie Grace, 3, to their 2.5 million YouTube subscribers.
Others stung by the hack include 19 Kids and Counting star Josh Duggar, who shot to fame as the eldest son of a conservative Christian family when he was a teen. The released data included records of nearly $1,000 of transactions on a credit card account in his name.
Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, was also accused of having an Ashley Madison account. Both men denied using the site.
The Real Housewives of New York star Josh Taekman, husband of Kristen Taekman, admitted to creating an account. He told Women's Health: "I signed up for the site foolishly and ignorantly with a group of friends and I deeply apologize for any embarrassment or pain I have brought to my wife and family."
France24 reported that 1,200 Saudi Arabian '.sa' email addresses were in the leaked database. Several thousand U.S .mil and .gov email addresses were also registered on the site.
Is Ashley Madison still going now?
Yes, Ashley Madison is still up and running. However its parent company, Avid Life Media, changed its name to Ruby Corporation in 2016. As of 2024, Ashley Madison says it has more than 75 million members in 53 countries.
Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal releases on Netflix on Wednesday May 15.
