Ashley Madison hack: CEO resigns following breach of data

Following the revelations of huge customer data from infidelity website Ashley Madison, Chief Executive Noel Biderman has stepped down on Friday.

Avid Life Media, which operates Ashley Madison, confirmed that the split was a mutually agreed one. The parent company issued a statement saying, "This change is in the best interest of the company and allows us to continue to provide support to our members and dedicated employees. We are steadfast in our commitment to our customer base.”

Skynews reported that the firm is still struggling to cope with the loss and sorting out ways to protect the privacy of their members without hampering access to its websites. The company said unless a new CEO is appointed, other senior members will be working on behalf of Biderman.

Last week, a group of hackers named “The Impact Team” dumped a huge cache of data, revealing the identities of users as well as corporate emails and sensitive computer source code from the company's servers.

In an interview with Motherboard, the hackers revealed that Ashley Madison has misled its users by claiming to delete their personal information all the while still archiving everything . They said, “We didn't blackmail users. Avid Life Media blackmailed them."

The team said that there was no absolutely no security apart from a segmented network, which could be accessed by using Pass1234 from the internet to VPN.

Apart from the loss the company has to face, public embarrassment and the emotional toll on the users are immense. Canadian police reported about two possible suicides as a result of this breach.

The hack is being investigated by Toronto police along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, U.S. Homeland Security and the American Federal Bureau Of Investigation. Australian authorities have also extended their hands of support in a bid to stop further data breach.

The hacking has also spawned online scams that fraudulently claim to be able to protect Ashley Madison clients' data for a fee.

In a recent analysis by tech news site Gizmodo, it was mentioned that there was only 5.5 female members as compared to 31 million male subscribers. Many users complained that majority of the female profiles on the site were fake or were created by automated bots. It traced many of the IP addresses for females back to Ashley Madison itself.

Meanwhile, Avid Life Media has refused to comment on the incident and is offering US$375,000 (AU$523,340) reward for information leading to the arrest of the hackers.

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