After the leak of 32 million user accounts of dating/cheating website Ashley Madison, reports have surfaced about an alleged suicide of two people who were seen to be members of the Canada-based infidelity community, according to the Toronto police.
"This hack is one of the largest data breaches in the world," said Bryce Evans, acting staff superintendent of the Toronto police department, during a press conference regarding the hacking issue. "Your actions are illegal and won"t be tolerated," he stated, sending a message to the hackers about what they did to the website.
The police provided no further details regarding the said suicides. However, they have stated that there have been reported hate crimes in relation to the recent security breach.
Furthermore, Avid Life Media, the parent company of Ashley Madison, has offered $500,000 to anyone who can give them information concerning the hackers" identity, which can then lead to their arrest.
The police also warned people whose data might have been leaked about a scam from certain websites that claim that they are able to erase their personal user data over at Ashley Madison. This can allegedly be done for a fee. "Nobody is going to be able to erase that information," according to Evans, further stating that clicking on such emails and opening links inside them could make a user vulnerable to viruses and malware.
The officers also sought the help of the tech community as well as "white hat hackers," who do not engage in crime, to come forward and share any information that could help them with their investigation.
Aside from the said release of user data, internal company documents were also leaked a few days later, exposing email messages of Avid Life Media CEO Noel Biderman.
Source: CBC News Toronto