The huge list of Ashley Madison names revealed that one in four married American men were on the Ashley Madison list , reports Forbes . Never mind that most of those married men were likely chatting with Ashley Madison employees or admins, as further analysis of the hacked data has revealed — the fact that a good 25% of the married men in the United States may have signed up with Ashley Madison at least just to look around is being called an interesting fact to consider.
The serious ramifications that can result from appearing on the Ashley Madison list — there have been suicides likely attributed to the Ashley Madison list and reports of users getting fired — have folks fighting each site that republishes the list as it is found.
Some users who have found themselves on the Ashley Madison list are now trying to mitigate their risk and determine just how much of their data resides on various Ashley Madison lists. Certain users who’ve discovered that only their email addresses have been exposed aren’t necessarily as deep-down worried as are those users who’ve found out their credit card data, home addresses, and more personally identifying information were exposed in the hack.
As reported in the article titled “ I am part of the Ashley Madison hack ” by Holly Moore of CBC News, Moore discovered that websites are charging a hefty penny to help Ashley Madison users like Holly figure out how much of her data was exposed in the hacking.
I could pay $67 to get started and a detective will be assigned to my case. Trustify advertises Ashley Madison reports at $199 for a “comprehensive review about what personal details had been made available” — all delivered to my in-box within 72 hours.
Holly, however, needn’t worry much that her name is on the list of hacked Ashley Madison users. She admits signing up and telling folks with Ashley Madison “winks” that she was a journalist seeking participants for a documentary, a definite mood-killer. What’s most fascinating about the names now exposed on the Ashley Madison list are some of the stories behind the names now emerging. Like the man whose own wife, bound in a wheelchair, signed him up for Ashley Madison.
The biggest lesson for all those appearing eager to expose the names on the Ashley Madison list — even as others play whack-a-mole to try and shut them down — seems to be that the old adage “judge not lest ye be judged” appears apropos.
[Image via Ashley Madison]