Hacking group leaks Australian government emails used for accounts on adult cheating website Ashley Madison

The Ashley Madison hack attack has revealed hundreds of active accounts from Australia. The dating website, which encourages couples to cheat on their partners, has a major following from Melbourne and Sydney.

At least 800 email addresses related to the Australian government (.gov.au) have been shared online. The emails are also associated with Ashley Madison users.

According to dadaviz.com, Sydney and Melbourne stand third and sixth consecutively among the list of top cities with Ashley Madison user accounts. Melbourne has 213,847 users while 251,813 people from Sydney have active accounts in the controversial dating website.

The top city with the maximum number of accounts is Sao Paolo with 374,542 users while New York comes second with 268,171. Other Australian cities in the list include Brisbane (118,857) and Perth (88,754).

The data visualisation website also reveals interesting details about Ashley Madison users. When asked about their smoking habits, 3.5 million Ashley Madison users say they have never smoked while 835,000 say they smoke occasionally and 408k say they smoke regularly.

The ones with blue eyes, curvy bodies and white hair consist of the least number of users on the cheating website. The highest number of users has an average body, black hair and brown eyes.

The more concerning part for Australia may be the fact that government email accounts, including some from the Department of Defence, have been leaked. Impact Team, the group responsible for the hack, released data to the dark web on Wednesday.

The leaked contact details include federal employees from education, environment and health departments. Account details of members from the NSW Attorney-General’s Department were also leaked.

The dating website, which brags itself to be the “most famous name in infidelity,” was hacked in July. Avid Life Media, a Canadian company, owns the website.

“Avid Life Media has failed to take down Ashley Madison and Established Men,” the hacker group said on Wednesday, The Australian reported; “We have explained the fraud, deceit and stupidity of ALM and their members.”

CNET reports the leaked emails are no evidence that those individuals have signed up for the adult dating website. The data may have been inserted by hackers. The hacker group acknowledged it while leaking the information.