Toronto police say hack has 'enormous social and economic fallout'; local authorities investigating unconfirmed suicides
At
least two suicides may be linked to the hacking of extramarital affairs website
Ashley Madison, which exposed the personal information of millions of users,
Toronto police said on Monday.
“As
of this morning, we have two unconfirmed reports of suicides that are
associated because of the leak of Ashley Madison customers’ profiles,” Toronto
Police acting staff superintendent Bryce Evans said at a press conference.
The
hacking is being investigated by the Toronto Police in conjunction with other
law enforcement services. The unconfirmed suicides are being investigated by
law enforcement in the jurisdictions where they occurred.
Police
declined to provide any more details on the apparent suicides, saying they
received the unconfirmed reports on Monday morning. Evans said the hack is
having an "enormous social and economic fallout." He also said hate
crimes may be connected to the hack but did not provide details.
"This
hack is one of the largest data breaches in the world," Evans said.
"This is affecting all of us. The social impact behind this leak, we're
talking about families, we're talking about their children, we're talking about
their wives, we are talking about their male partners."
The
hackers who took responsibility for the digital breach had accused the
website's owners of deceit and incompetence, and said the company refused to
bow to their demands to close the site. The hackers referred to themselves as
the Impact Team.
Evans
said the hackers released the entire Ashley Madison client list, which claims
more than 30 million users worldwide. He said the hackers also sent a taunting
message to the company CEO and released his emails.
Evans
said there are confirmed cases of criminals attempting to extort Ashley Madison
clients by threatening to expose them unless payment is received. He addressed
the hackers directly, saying their actions are "illegal and will not be
tolerated."
"This
is your wake-up call," he said.
The
company behind Ashley Madison is offering a $378,000 reward for information
leading to the arrest of the hackers.
A
representative of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security attended the news
conference. Special Agent Ron Marcello of Homeland Security Investigations said
Toronto police asked for assistance, adding that the FBI has taken the lead on
the investigation.
U.S.
government employees with sensitive jobs in national security or law
enforcement were among hundreds of federal workers found to be using government
networks to access and pay membership fees to Ashley Madison, the Associated
Press reported last week.
"This
is worldwide," Evans said. "We're looking at bringing in top security
investigators from around the world to assist."
Source:
Al Jazeera
