Ashley Madison
Ashley Madison founder Noel Biderman demonstrates his website on a tablet computer during an interview in Hong Kong August 28, 2013. Founded in 2002, Ashley Madison, the world's biggest online dating website for married men and women, has over 20 million users in 30 regions all over the world. Reuters/Bobby Yip

The search for the persons responsible for exposing and threatening adultery website Ashley Madison's staff and clients continues -- and the police are now offering money for their capture. In a morning news conference held Monday at the Toronto Police Headquarters, A/Staff Superintendent Bryce Evans said that there have been two unconfirmed cases of suicide related to the dumping of the site's client names and emails online on Aug. 18. Authorities have also called on "white hat hackers," or those who do not engage in any criminal activity, to help them catch the persons behind Impact Team.

"Team Impact, I want to make it very clear to you. Your actions are illegal and we will not tolerate it," said Supt. Evans said in a report from The Toronto Star .

Supt. Evans leads "Project Unicorn," the task force created to deal with case. The authorities are reportedly offering CAD$500,000 (AU$523,000) to anybody who can point to the identities and whereabouts of the perpetrators.

The staff of Canada-based Avid Life Media, which runs Ashley Madison, reportedly opened their computers to a threat from the Impact Team on July 12, writes CBC News . The message came with the AC/DC song "Thunderstruck" playing in the background. The note reportedly called for the shutdown of the site itself, as well as its sister company Established Men, which is a dating site that pairs young women with older, wealthy men. When the firm refused to follow, the hackers dumped AM's entire client list online on Aug. 18 with a message that says "time's up."

The site reportedly has over 35 million registered members around the world. A second and larger batch of data was dumped a few days after, which included confidential emails involving Avid Life Media chief executive Noel Biderman. Evans added that some Ashley Madison clients have been contacted by the hackers asking for bitcoin in exchange for their silence.

Analysis applied by the website Vocativ states that Canada has the most number of Ashley Madison members, with 6.26 accounts for every 100 people in the country. The U.S. is second with 5.11 accounts per 100 people, followed by Australia with 4.51. Other high locations identified were Hong Kong, Ireland and New Zealand. In absolute terms, the U.S. tops the list with some 16 million members, followed by Brazil. The report notes that this data is based on the "location" selected by the members from the site's drop-down menu when setting up their profiles.

The case is currently being investigated via a collaborative effort among Cycura, a Toronto-based cyber security firm, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and the Toronto Police Service. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Department of Homeland Security are also conducting its own inquiry in its jurisdiction.

Valerie Lawton, spokesperson for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, said that her office is confident that the efforts rendered toward the crime will "lead to arrests and convictions."

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@TorontoPolice News Conference Re: Ashley Madison Website Hack

Source: YouTube/ Toronto Police Service

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