This month users of the Dark Web were given the personal names (and intimate details) of millions of people who availed themselves of the net services provided by Ashley Madison (AM), a website devoted to help husbands and wives find that special someone else for an illicit affair. According to AM executives, the roster of customer names was stolen and released by an expert group of hackers who named themselves, the “Impact Team”. According to a cyber security article published by Wired, there are a number of specialty e-detective services available for people who are interested in identifying whether their name (or that of their better half) appears on the hackers’ list.
Launched in 2001 by former Toronto lawyer Noel Biderman, the infamous infidelity website which sports as its motto “Life is short. Have an affair” originally got its name from the two most popular names for female babies in North America at the time.