Impact Team Exposes Cheaters, Ashley Madison Hits Back

The 'Impact Team' finally released stolen data exposing members of adultery website AshleyMadison.com

Aug 19, 2015 at 10:56 AM

The moment we've all been waiting for arrived yesterday when a group of hackers known as the "Impact Team" finally released stolen user data for the adultery website AshleyMadison.com. The dump was triggered by Avid Life Media's refusal to pull Ashley Madison -- which it owns -- from the Web, per Impact Team's demands.

In a statement, the hackers once again explained the rationale behind the cyberattack, saying, "the site is a scam with thousands of fake female profiles. See ashley madison fake profile lawsuit; 90-95% of actual users are male." Avid Life Media -- which may now need to scrap its IPO aspirations -- is currently reviewing the validity of the data.

Moreover, the company offered a strongly worded response to Impact Team's efforts. "The criminal, or criminals, involved in this act have appointed themselves as the moral judge, juror, and executioner, seeing fit to impose a personal notion of virtue on all of society," Avid Life Media said. "We will not sit idly by and allow these thieves to force their personal ideology on citizens around the world."

Elsewhere on the relationship app front, it appears that IAC/InterActiveCorp's (NASDAQ:IACI) planned IPO of its Match group -- which includes Tinder, Match.com, and OkCupid -- still appears to be on track. This, despite a recent management shake-up. However, IACI option buyers have been picking up puts over calls at an annual-high clip, per the stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 13.20 on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX).

Elsewhere, notoriously hacked Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) has apparently bounced back just fine. Internet services provider Web.com Group Inc (NASDAQ:WWWW), on the other hand, is reeling after a massive data breach. One stock not minding all the attention is cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE), with the shares modestly higher. In fact, FEYE exec Ajay K. Sood weighed in on the Ashley Madison hack, saying "This isn't cyber terrorism. It's cyber vigilantism."

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