Adultery website chief resigns over 37 million leaked names
THE boss of adultery website Ashley Madison has resigned from the firm in the wake of the hacking scandal, which saw the details of up to 37 million cheating spouses leaked.
Canadian entrepreneur Noel Biderman, the self-proclaimed “King of Infidelity”, has stepped down as chief executive of Avid Life Media – the website’s parent company.
The company will be run by the current senior management team until a new chief executive is appointed.
In a statement, the firm said: “This change is in the best interest of the company and allows us to continue to provide support to our members and dedicated employees. We are steadfast in our commitment to our customer base.
“We are actively adjusting to the attack on our business and members’ privacy by criminals. We will continue to provide access to our unique platforms for our members.
“We are actively cooperating with international law enforcement in an effort to bring those responsible for the theft of proprietary member and business information to justice.”
His sudden departure comes after hackers leaked the names, addresses, phone numbers and credit card details of users – including reportedly 1.2m people living in the UK – on the dark web.
Politicians, government and UN officials and even Vatican employees have reportedly been exposed in the scandal, which has been linked to two suicides in Canada.
SNP MP Michelle Thom- son has denied any connection with the site after an email address allegedly linked to her appeared among the data posted. The MP for Edinburgh West said the “out-of-use” email address had been “harvested by hackers”.
The group behind the attack – The Impact Team – breached Ashley Madison’s servers last month.
They released the data to the dark web – a hidden part of the internet that cannot be accessed through normal browsers, and is often described as the “internet black market”.
The site has advertised itself as a place where married people could come to cheat on their spouses. Its motto: “Life is short. Have an affair.”
Prior to the incident, Mr Biderman’s company described him proudly as the “the most hated man on the internet” and “The King of Infidelity”. He founded AshleyMadison.com in 2002 and was appointed president and chief executive officer of Avid Life in 2007, when it acquired Ashley Madison.