AdultFriendFinder customers hacked, highly sensitive data leaked online

The website's mobile home page
The website’s mobile home page

One of the Internet’s largest adult dating websites has suffered a major data breach, with up to 4 million members impacted, according to U.K. news station Channel 4, which broke the story today. Victims face potential embarrassment or other serious repercussions in addition to the usual potential for identity theft.

AdultFriendFinder.com’s parent firm FriendFinder Networks Inc. confirmed to the BBC that it had been hacked and said it is working with law enforcement agencies and computer security forensics firm Mandiant. The firm said it would be unable to confirm other details at the moment.

Leaked data includes sexual preferences; users share sensitive sexual information when they sign up, and whether or not they are open to an extramarital affair, Channel 4 said. Even consumers who’d closed their accounts were caught up in the leak. So were at least some British government officials and members of the British Army, though the site did not elaborate.

AdultFriendFinder advertises itself aggressively online. Its Google search results promise users can “Find a F### buddy for online sex, adult dating, and one night stands.”

Channel 4 said it found the data — contained in 15 spreadsheets — as part of broader research into the “dark web,” where stolen data is bought and sold.

Sign up for Bob Sullivan’s free email newsletter.

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for my newsletter

About Bob Sullivan 1612 Articles
BOB SULLIVAN is a veteran journalist and the author of four books, including the 2008 New York Times Best-Seller, Gotcha Capitalism, and the 2010 New York Times Best Seller, Stop Getting Ripped Off! His latest, The Plateau Effect, was published in 2013, and as a paperback, called Getting Unstuck in 2014. He has won the Society of Professional Journalists prestigious Public Service award, a Peabody award, and The Consumer Federation of America Betty Furness award, and been given Consumer Action’s Consumer Excellence Award.

1 Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.