Ashley Madison Case

Hackers often a get rap from the public and the media. They often commit an illegal act to obtain and release information that should not normally be out in the public. In the Ashley Madison case, the hackers sought to shut down the adultery site. The hackers also had information that would damage the site and its’ user. This information was used as leverage as the hackers made their demands. Adultery and cheating is wrong by all means, but that does not give these hackers the right to engage in criminal acts by breaching data, extortion and releasing private information obtained via hacking. For instance, obtaining information through hacking and any other unauthorized method is a criminal act. These hackers illegally obtained private information with the intent to release the

The hackers’ attempt to send a message to the company and users of the site was a dangerous criminal act. Their actions put many people’s privacy and private information into the open. The hackers’ action could lead to public humiliation for the site’s users along with putting them at risk for extortion and blackmail. The hack and ensuing data breach would show that the fee customers paid did not delete their information as promised. In the months leading up to the data breach, the hackers sent messages the executives of the Avid Life Media group who ran the Ashley Madison site. These messages warned the company that the data breach would be leaked to the public if they did not shut their website down. These hackers attempted to extort and blackmail the company into shutting the site down using the data obtained by hacking as leverage. These threatening messages and attempts to extort the company in itself are a criminal act. Extortion The hackers obtained information about customers such as email addresses, credit cards and other personal information through hacking. Another argument could be made the hackers releasing the private information would be a