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Fact check

Is it true: Ashley Madison data breach and extortion (Jul-Aug 2015)?

Confirmed5% confidence

Yes — this is confirmed.

Impact Team breach confirmed by FTC investigation and $11.2M civil settlement (July 2016). Security researcher analysis confirmed ~95% of female profiles were bots. At least two suicides documented. CEO Noel Biderman resigned 28 August 2015. 'Full delete' service was fraudulent. Passwords stored in plaintext on legacy systems. All core claims confirmed by government investigation and judicial record.

The claim

Avid Life Media's extramarital-affair dating site Ashley Madison was breached by a hacker group calling itself the 'Impact Team,' which exfiltrated more than 32 million user records and 25GB+ of data.

Key evidence

FTC settlement confirms deceptive practices — July 2016

Impact Team identity never established

Read the full evidence file

Conspirafy steelmans each claim, then follows the evidence. How we reach a verdict · Check another claim