The Ashley Madison Affair

Ashley Madison was a popular site, signing up millions of would-be adulterers around the world. However, one July morning in 2015, as employees at the Toronto headquarters logged on to their computers, a message flashed up: "Shut down Ashley Madison immediately (or) we will release all customer records, profiles, sexual fantasies... real names and addresses". As Ashley Madison's owners were set to launch the company in a billion-dollar IPO, they refused to comply with the demands of the hackers, known as the "Impact Team." Thirty days later, the Impact Team made good on their threats and released almost 10 gigabytes of user details onto the dark web with disastrous consequences for people who had signed up to the site, ranging from suicide to blackmail to public shaming.