Privacy, Sex Scandals, Technology

Who Are The Lawyers, Law Profs, And Judges That Were Revealed In The Ashley Madison Hack?

This breaking news is brought to you by the phrase, “Babe, I need to tell you something, and I hope you won’t be mad.”

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Last month, a hacking group known as Impact Team claimed that it had hacked Ashley Madison, an online dating service that encourages infidelity and is geared towards people who are married or in long-term relationships. Impact Team said that it breached the site’s user database, and would release information about its countless members unless the site was taken down immediately.

The site’s owners, Avid Life Media (ALM), didn’t do that, but perhaps they should have, because today, this message popped up on a site accessible only via the Tor browser:

That’s right, Impact Team leaked about 10 gigs worth of data about Ashley Madison’s customers, including, but not limited to, their names, their email addresses, their locations, their credit card transactions on the site, and even their sexual preferences.

Needless to say, this data dump seems to be a divorce attorney’s fantasy. This breaking news is brought to you by the phrase, “Babe, I need to tell you something, and I hope you won’t be mad.” God, if you’re going to cheat on your spouse, at least do so with discretion.

According to Wired, which first broke the news of the data breach, ALM had this to say:

“This event is not an act of hacktivism, it is an act of criminality. It is an illegal action against the individual members of AshleyMadison.com, as well as any freethinking people who choose to engage in fully lawful online activities,” the company said in a statement. “The criminal, or criminals, involved in this act have appointed themselves as the moral judge, juror, and executioner, seeing fit to impose a personal notion of virtue on all of society. We will not sit idly by and allow these thieves to force their personal ideology on citizens around the world.”

It sounds like ALM is going to need a few lawyers to handle this case, if the company does intend to seek out those who hacked the site and press charges. The company need not look too far, however, because information allegedly belonging to several Biglaw partners, government attorneys, T14 law professors, and even federal appellate judges was included in the gigantic data file released to the wilds of the internet by Team Impact.

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We stepped into the dark side of the internet to take a look at the data, and while we won’t out anyone by name in the interest of their privacy, we will make some general statements about those who allegedly signed up for Ashley Madison’s services — without regard to their own privacy, mind you — with their professional email addresses. As a PSA, it’s important to note that Ashley Madison’s sign-up process does not include email verification, so these accounts may not have been set up by their alleged owners.

Without further ado, here is a list of users who appear to be prestigious legal professionals:

  • At least 10 clerks and/or judges of federal district courts;
  • At least one federal appellate judge;
  • At least 10 Department of Justice employees;
  • At least three V10 partners, including one Cravath partner;
  • At least 10 Biglaw associates, including multiple attorneys at Baker & McKenzie; and
  • At least one law professor at an elite T14 law school.

If you’d like to know if your spouse or significant other was part of the Ashley Madison data hack, you can enter their email address here to find out.

The implications of this data breach are vast, and there’s no doubt that someone will sue over the information that has been leaked online, but perhaps there is a lesson to be learned in all of this. Each and every day, online privacy dies a little bit, but there are things you can do to keep the wolves at bay. It may be incredibly difficult, but try your best not to leave an incriminating data trail behind you as you traverse the web. Do not use your professional email address to access scandalous websites, and do not reveal any identifying information about yourself if you do choose to access such sites.

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Your online privacy is something that should be guarded with your life. Please allow this to serve as a teachable moment, lawyers. Don’t allow this to happen to you or your clients. Always use a throwaway email address to avoid tarnishing your good name on the web.

Hackers Finally Post Stolen Ashley Madison Data [Wired]

Earlier: Ashley Madison Should Take Better Care Of The Females It Hires To Trick You

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