Reported suicide cases may have been due to the exposure of the client names of the adultery website Ashley Madison. Avid Life Media, which owns the site, may have offered a bounty; however, the fact it still faces multiple lawsuits, including negligence, could not be denied.
Toronto Police received two unconfirmed suicide reports on Monday. One of the two, who died Thursday, was reportedly a Police captain in San Antonio, Texas. The veteran of 25 years reportedly had self-inflicted gunshot wound.
An email address showing it was from the city San Antonio allegedly belonged to the captain. People learned from San Antonio Express-News that the City officials could not affirm the authenticity of email addresses used to access Ashley Madison nor if the death was related to it.
Avid Life Media is keen on catching the hackers. Therefore, the Canada-based company set a bounty of $500,000 Canadian, Monday, CNet reported. An equivalent of $377,000 will be given to anyone who could provide a lead to the hackers.
In addition to the suicide reports possibly related to the information leaked by the hackers who call themselves Impact Team, the authorities were also convinced that there have been extortion attempts.
According to experts' opinion, the bounty, if it triumphs, may bring back the public's confidence in online companies. Catching up hackers is a difficult process, especially if they know how to cover their tracks.
A security researcher from ESET, antivirus company, Stephen Cobb said that hackers get caught because of pride - bragging to friends and posting pictures about their deed.
ALM may have extended some efforts in catching the culprits, but it's undeniable that a security breach happened, which revealed 33 million accounts — including names, street addresses, phone numbers and credit card information — and 36 million email addresses. Because of this, the company is facing multiple lawsuits.
There were reportedly five lawsuits from Canada and the United States. Those cases in the United States were filed under anonymous names — John and Jane Doe.
In Missouri, Jane Doe's personal information was reportedly used for fraudulent transactions. While in California, John Doe claimed he wasn't informed in a timely manner that Ashley Madison was hacked.
A $578 million lawsuit was filed in Canada last week, PC Mag reported. This was in behalf of Eliot Shore, who allegedly joined Ashley Madison but never met any of the members.
The Impact Team said that the site was a scam and the profiles of women they feature were fake. The team wanted ALM to shut down their operation, and when they did not listen, the hackers released the user information for the world to see.
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