The company behind Ashley Madison, who you’ll remember got hacked in epic fashion last year, has agreed to pay a $1.6 million settlement to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The hack exposed account details of 36 million users which made it one of the biggest hacks in history. But there’s more:
The agency also found that Ashley Madison had managed to attract customers, including 19 million from the U.S., partly through fake profiles of women designed to entice them into becoming paying members.
Fascinating. Now, $1.6 million doesn’t sound like a lot. And frankly it isn’t a lot. But here’s why they got off…. Sorry, poor choice of words…. with a $1.6 million settlement:
U.S. investigators initially wanted Ruby to pay $17.5 million in the settlement, but the remaining amount was suspended based on the company’s inability to pay, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement.
It sounds like these guys won’t be around for much longer. I doubt they’ll be missed. On top of paying out this cash, Ruby is required to institute a comprehensive data security program to protect customers’ information. On top of that, it must also undergo third-party audits to check for compliance. But seeing as they likely will not be around for much longer, I can’t see either of those ever happening. But I am a cynic by nature. Finally, the company admits nor denies anything that the FTC said.
Of course, there’s still numerous lawsuits that are floating around out there regarding this hack, so this story is far from over.
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This entry was posted on December 14, 2016 at 3:43 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Ashley Madison. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Ashley Madison Serves Up $1.6 Million To Make The FTC Go Away
The company behind Ashley Madison, who you’ll remember got hacked in epic fashion last year, has agreed to pay a $1.6 million settlement to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The hack exposed account details of 36 million users which made it one of the biggest hacks in history. But there’s more:
The agency also found that Ashley Madison had managed to attract customers, including 19 million from the U.S., partly through fake profiles of women designed to entice them into becoming paying members.
Fascinating. Now, $1.6 million doesn’t sound like a lot. And frankly it isn’t a lot. But here’s why they got off…. Sorry, poor choice of words…. with a $1.6 million settlement:
U.S. investigators initially wanted Ruby to pay $17.5 million in the settlement, but the remaining amount was suspended based on the company’s inability to pay, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement.
It sounds like these guys won’t be around for much longer. I doubt they’ll be missed. On top of paying out this cash, Ruby is required to institute a comprehensive data security program to protect customers’ information. On top of that, it must also undergo third-party audits to check for compliance. But seeing as they likely will not be around for much longer, I can’t see either of those ever happening. But I am a cynic by nature. Finally, the company admits nor denies anything that the FTC said.
Of course, there’s still numerous lawsuits that are floating around out there regarding this hack, so this story is far from over.
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This entry was posted on December 14, 2016 at 3:43 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Ashley Madison. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.