Attorney Ben Older was interviewed on ABC Action News yesterday following the Ashley Madison data breach exposing 37 million cheaters.
Ashley Madison, the website that encourages spouses to cheat on their partners, has been hacked. A group calling themselves The Impact Team has threatened to leak the information of ashleymadison.com’s 37 million customers, according to a report by Krebs on Security.
Ashley Madison released a statement acknowledging the breach, and apologized for the “unprovoked and criminal intrusion.”
“It’s crazy, in the last probably month, I’ve had at least three new cases come in as a direct result of Ashley Madison,” said divorce attorney Benjamin Older.
And Older expects a lot more if hackers follow through on a threat to release information on nearly 37 million users — including nearly 50,000 in Tampa alone.
But even if your spouse is one of those users, an affair won’t help you financially.
“Because it’s a no-fault state, you are not entitled to any financial award because of the extramarital affair,” said Older.
Older says the popularity of online dating has created a swell of online cheaters. Most users count on the website to protect their infidelity and info, but a closer look at the website’s terms and agreements, shows that the fine print reveals just the opposite.
According to those terms, “You acknowledge that although we strive to maintain the necessary safeguards to protect your personal data, we cannot ensure the security or privacy of information you provide through the internet.”
So as you can see, if they are hacked, they’re off the hook.
“The fact is, there’s no such thing as a hack-proof site,” said Cyber Security Expert Mitch Neff. “The companies we entrust with our data can do their best, but things like this are just going to happen.”
