Some 37 million people could be in danger of ruining their marriages, thanks to a hack of online cheating site Ashley Madison.
Large caches of data were reportedly stolen from the "world's leading married dating service" and published online, according to security expert Brian Krebs.
Dubbed The Impact Team, the hackers claim to have compromised user databases, financial records, and medical information stored by Toronto-based Avid Life Media (ALM), which owns Ashley Madison, as well as Cougar Life and Established Men.
The Impact team is holding for ransom company bank account details, employee salaries, and customer records; it is threatening to release the full data unless Ashley Madison and its sister sites are shut down.
In a statement published by ALM, the company apologized for "this unprovoked and criminal intrusion into our customers' information."
"The current business world has proven to be one in which no company's online assets are safe from cyber-vandalism, with Avid Life Media being only the latest among many companies to have been attacked, despite investing in the latest privacy and security technologies," the statement said.
In May, a hacker leaked data from 3.9 million AdultFriendFinder members onto a darknet forum. The dump included birthdays, ZIP codes, IP addresses, sexual orientations, and whether or not the user was interested in an extramarital affair.
Even AdultFriendFinder users who previously deleted their accounts had their privacy compromised, something that could be a problem with the Ashley Madison breach. According to Impact Team's manifesto, which was posted with the stolen data, the breach is a response to what it said are lies Avid Life Media tells customers about a $19 service that allows members to expunge their online profiles.
Contrary to what the site advertises, the "full delete" feature doesn't actually remove usage history or personal information likes real names and addresses, the hackers allege. "Full Delete netted ALM $1.7mm in revenue in 2014. It's also a complete lie," the hacking group wrote, as reported by Krebs.
ALM did not address the allegations over its cancellation policy, but the company did announce that "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," the company statement said. "Any and all parties responsible for this act of cyber-terrorism will be held responsible."