December 14, 2016
Mississippi will receive over $52,000 after state and federal officials settled with Ashley Madison, an online dating website that caters primarily to married men, after a July 2015 data breach that led to leaks of users who had accounts on the site in 13 different states.
In a press release, Attorney General Jim Hood said that the company has agreed to strengthen their data security.
Ruby Corp., the entity that owns AshleyMadison.com, will make a payment of $1.66 million to the federal government and 13 states involved in an investigation of the company's practices. The company demonstrated through financial documentation that they were unable to pay a larger amount, although if information changes, they will pay an additional $17 million.
"This breach should remind everyone to be careful about his or her online activity, because there's always a chance that hackers will obtain their personal information," Attorney General Hood said in a press release. "I will not condone the actions of those who used this site nor the owners who provided a means for the destruction of marriages and the break-up of families. However, like every business, the owners of the site had an obligation to ensure that user information was secure, so they failed in their legal responsibility as well."
The data breach exposed information from millions of individuals, including photos, usernames, email addresses, and communications with other users, and much of this information was posted publicly online, the press release said.
In the settlement, the company agreed to end certain deceptive practices, to not create fake profiles, and to implement a stronger data security program, and in the wake of the security breach officials discovered that the website had created thousands of fake user profiles, misrepresented the strength of its security, and sold a "Full Delete" option which it did not carry out in all instances, a press release from Hood's office says.
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