전날 미국의 정보보안 전문가 브라이언 크렙스는 자신의 홈페이지에 '임팩트 팀'이라는 해커집단이 ALM을 공격했으며, 이 해커집단이 ALM 운영 웹사이트 회원의 개인정보나 ALM 전산망 구성 현황으로 보이는 문서를 인터넷에 잠시 게재했다고 밝혔다.
크렙스는 이 해커집단이 '애슐리 매디슨'과 다른 유사성격 사이트 '이스태블리시드 멘'의 운영을 중단하지 않으면 보유 정보를 공개하겠다는 협박을 하고 있다며, 이 해커 집단이 절취한 정보를 악용해 ALM으로부터 돈을 뜯어내려 한다는 주장이 제기되고 있다고 전했다.
미국의 정보기술(IT) 전문 매체들에 따르면 현재 '임팩트 팀'이라는 이름의 해커집단과 관련된 문서는 인터넷에서 검색되지 않고 있다.
ALM은 홈페이지에 본사 소재지를 비롯한 회사 정보를 밝히지 않고 있지만, 직업인맥 전문 소셜미디어 '링크트인'의 ALM 페이지에는 이 회사가 2001년 캐나다에서 설립됐다는 내용이 있다.
지난 4월 영국 일간 텔레그래프는 ALM이 올해 영국 런던증시에 상장하려 시도하고 있다고 보도했다.
미국 언론들은 이번 일로 어떤 개인정보가 어떻게 유출됐는지 불분명하다면서도, '애슐리 매디슨'을 비롯해 ALM에서 운영하는 웹사이트 회원들이 불안해할 수 있다고 전했다.
이에 대해 ALM은 원하는 회원들에게 신용카드 사용 기록을 비롯해 해당 웹사이트 안에서 사용된 모든 종류의 회원 개인정보를 삭제하는 서비스를 제공하겠다는 계획을 제시했다.
지금까지 ALM은 추가 비용을 지불해야 회원이 자신의 개인정보를 삭제할 수 있도록 해 왔다. (연합)
<관련 영문 기사>
Adultery website Ashley Madison hacked in shutdown bid
Hackers breached the online adultery website Ashley Madison and threatened to expose data on users in an effort to shut down the service which claims millions of members worldwide.
Avid Life Media, which owns Ashley Madison, said in a statement Monday an “unauthorized party” was able to gain access to the data through various unauthorized points on the website.
A group calling itself “the Impact Team” claimed responsibility and said it was part of an effort to shut down Ashley Madison, known for its slogan, “Life is short. Have an affair.”
The group, in statements posted online, said that Ashley Madison and a related site called Established Men “must shut down immediately permanently.”
“Shutting down AM and EM will cost you, but non-compliance will cost you more,” the statement said.
“We will release all customer records, profiles with all the customers' sexual fantasies, nude pictures, and conversations and matching credit card transactions, real names and addresses.”
Avid Life, which is based in Canada, said some personally identifiable information was posted online before being removed.
“Our team has now successfully removed the posts related to this incident ... about our users published online,” Avid Life Media said.
“At this time, we have been able to secure our sites, and close the unauthorized access points,” the company said.
“We apologize for this unprovoked and criminal intrusion into our customers' information.”
Ashley Madison, which boasts more than 33 million users, helps people who are in relationships cheat on their partners. With its other dating services, Avid Life says it is Canada's largest dot-com with some 40 million members.
It said it has “stringent security measures in place, including working with leading IT vendors from around the world.”
“These security measures have unfortunately not prevented this attack to our system,” Avid Life added.
The company said it is working with law enforcement over the breach and that those responsible for the “act of cyber-terrorism will be held responsible.”
Users in more than 46 countries subscribe to the cheating website, which was founded in 2001.
The Canada-based company said a new user joins every six seconds, and that it is “the world's largest website for married men and women looking to have a discreet affair.”
The incident is the latest in a series of high-profile data breaches affecting companies as well as government databases.
It comes two months after a leak of stolen data from 3.9 million members of Adult FriendFinder, which claims to be ““the world's largest sex and swinger” community.
Toronto-based Avid Life said recently it was considering a stock flotation to help grow the business, which also includes the website for women called Cougar Life, aimed at the “recently divorced, single mom or sexy single still on the prowl.”
Avid Life chief executive Noel Biderman told security blogger Brian Krebs the company was close to identifying the source of the breach.
“It was definitely a person here that was not an employee but certainly had touched our technical services,” he was quoted as saying. (AFP)
