Ashley Madison hack: Users commit suicide after emotional breakdown

Canadian police confirmed that the hacking of adultery website Ashley Madison has led at least two people to commit suicide. It has also sparked extortion attempts. Australian authorities have released a statement saying that they are assisting with the investigation and trying to find out if similar cases are occurring in Australia as leaked data revealed that Ashley Madison has some of its highest number of users from the nation.

It has been reported that Canadian lawyers have launched a lawsuit seeking some C$760 million (AU$797 million) in damages.

The double data dump that took place last week reported to have contained email addresses of British civil servants, U.S. government emails and workers at European and North American corporations. This not only uprooted faith from Internet security and data protection but also ruined millions of relationships.

Meanwhile, Avid Life Media Inc, which owns the website, has offered C$500,000 (AU$524,183) reward to get hold of the "Impact Team" hackers.

Bryce Evans, the acting staff superintendent of Toronto police, called the action to be illegal and said that this would not be tolerated at any cost. "To the hacking community who engage in discussions on the dark web and who no-doubt has information that could assist this investigation, we're also appealing to you to do the right thing,” he said.

The hack has given people power to threaten users with the exposure of their infidelity and in an attempt to stop that, users are willing to give in to the demands of those extorting money, Evans said.

However, police hasn’t been able to provide details of the suicides due to unconfirmed reports. Evans also spoke on the result of hack and the toll it has taken on the lives of children, partners and families as whole.

More than anything else the public embarrassment and emotional toll are saddening. "It's going to have impacts on their lives. We're now going to have hate crimes that are a result of this,” he added.

The hack that has been dubbed as “project unicorn” is being investigated by Toronto police along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, US 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.

Evans also said the hacking had spawned online scams that fraudulently claimed to be able to protect Ashley Madison clients' data for a fee. He said the parent company Avid Life first became aware of the breach on July 12 after several employees received a message from the hackers accompanied by the playing of rock group AC/DC's “Thunderstruck.”

The company went to police several days later, Evans said, while the hackers went public on July 20 .

For help in any suicidal case, please call 13 11 14 in Australia.

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