Sharing personal information online is very risky nowadays because of the increased hacking cases that are reported each day. A website known as Cheat-on-your-spouse website Ashley Madison got hacked. Hackers are threatening to reveal the names of its 37 million cheating users.
If a social network user gives any company his or her photos, credit information, full names and age they jeopardize their privacy. No website can guarantee privacy. Every computer can be hacked. Computer engineers around the globe have placed a warning on the usage of computers. They claim that the way the Internet was built, it’s inherently insecure. Communicating online is like sending paper notes on an automobile highway in a war zone.
To keep your notes private, mathematicians come up with complex algorithms to encrypt communication but enemies or hackers who show interest in any given information stored online always find a way to hack in any account or website. Some websites don’t even use encryption hence it’s like cycling without using a helmet risking your life in case of an accident.
And even if you’re really careful online, the devices themselves get infected with malware. Even if you made it to the military base on the other side, don’t celebrate yet. Because you just handed your note over to a guy who’s actually a spy because even Army websites get hacked.
The Ashley Madison website, which uses the advertising slogan “Life is short. Have an affair,” said Monday it had been attacked and some user data was stolen.
Brian Krebs said,”the hackers were threatening to release all Ashley Madison’s customer records if the website isn’t shut down.”
The hackers called themselves the “Impact Team,” and the potential release includes “profiles with all the customers’ secret sexual fantasies and matching credit card transactions, real names and addresses, and employee documents and emails.”
In a statement, Avid Life Media, the parent company, said: “At this time, we have been able to secure our sites, and close the unauthorized access points. We are working with law enforcement agencies, which are investigating this criminal act.”
CNN reports that Ashley Madison is a dating website, with one important twist: Instead of connecting eligible singles, it caters to married people interested in having an affair. The site claims to have 37 million members, and has in the past bragged about its data security.
The website is vulnerable to hackers because it places great potential to be used in blackmail schemes. The hackers were upset about the company’s “full delete” service, which promises to completely erase a user’s profile, and all associated data, for a $19 fee.
“Full Delete netted [Avid Life Media] $1.7 million in revenue in 2014. It’s also a complete lie,” the hackers were quoted as saying in a manifesto published by Krebs. “Users almost always pay with credit card; their purchase details are not removed as promised, and include real names and address, which is of course the most important information the users want removed.”
The hack comes after a popular dating site called FriendFinder was hacked leading to 3.5 million people’s sexual preferences and secrets exposed.
Also read: Low-tech ways you can use to protect your privacy online
