Dating site hack reveals sexual secrets of 4 million users

Even deleted account holders at risk of exposure

Dan Sung
Friday 22 May 2015 13:01 BST
Comments
Adult dating website hacked for data of nearly 4 million users
Adult dating website hacked for data of nearly 4 million users (Adult Friendfinder)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A hacker has exposed the personal and sexual details of nearly 4 million users on one of the world-leading dating sites.

The details lifted from the database of Adult FriendFinder include the information of previous members who had previously deleted their accounts. The specifics of the illegally mined data are around sexual orientation, sexual preferences and even whether or not members of the service are already with partners but looking for extramarital affairs.

A Channel 4 News investigation traced the discovery to a forum where a hacker known as ROR[RG] posted the information which also includes names, email addresses, postcodes, dates of birth, computer IP addresses and just about everything else short of credit card details.

More than 7 million of Adult FriendFinder's 63-million-user worldwide community are British and, of 3.9 million accounts leaked, "dozens" are linked to UK government and armed service addresses.

The site, which bills itself as a "thriving sexual community", focuses on the physical and more erotic side of the online dating landscape. Security experts believe that the hacked addresses will be spammed en masse before the data is sifted through for any possible blackmail use.

"FriendFinder Networks Inc understands and fully appreciates the seriousness of the issue,” said Adult FriendFinder’s parent company.

"We pledge to take the appropriate steps needed to protect our customers if they are affected."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in