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The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked

krebsonsecurity.com

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Re: The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked

#191

Post by antillean »

kalms wrote: post #179
antillean wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, what? How is membership in a website that is known, markets itself, and is designed as a cheating website not evidence of the intentions and motivations of its members? Of course membership in Ashley Madison isn't irrefutable proof that a person is looking for an affair. But how is it also not good reason to believe that he/she is?

You can use a gun for killing, and it's marketed for that specific purpose. Does owning a gun make you a killer?

No, because I'm talking about intentions and motivations, not actions. I said it's reason to believe that someone has intentions/motivations to have an affair; I didn't say it's enough to believe that someone has had an affair.

The reputation, marketing, and design of guns is a good bit more varied than Ashley Madison's. But yes, buying and learning to use a gun shows a certain intention or willingness to kill. It may be to kill a deer you're hunting or to kill a person in self defence, but in general it's evidence of a certain willingness to kill.

Re: The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked

#192

Post by zamalek »

pmelendez wrote: post #187
zamalek wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> God-given natural status The "God reasoning" isn't the only reasoning. Just like polygamy is a choice, so is monogamy. It's a sexual choice. What is wrong is that people can't be open about that choice. People should be able to be open and honest about being polygamous or monogamous with their partner - yes, that might sometimes result in the relationship ending; but there's a good chance where there is a disagreem…

> Just like polygamy is a choice That's not much of a choice though. In several places you can go to jail for it. Or it is choice in the same way that being a criminal is a choice.

Yeah, I should have prefaced that whole argument with "advanced societies." It's very hard to argue these points when you have e.g. the middle east getting in the way of rational and humane thought processes. In places like that you really have no choice or autonomy and arguments such as my original one simply hold no ground.

Re: The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked

#193

Post by mryan »

dgfv1 wrote: post #133
harryf wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good thing you did it anonymously. We wouldn't want you to have to face any consequences for your actions. Let's hope you're not responsible for something like this http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/utah-dad-kills-fami...

I'm sorry what does that article have anything to do with anything. And if some wacko kills his family and himself how is that in any way my fault?

If "some wacko" killed his family and himself as a result of your disclosure, would you feel any culpability at all? Of course, you didn't force them to join the site, but you did make the decision to disclose the information.

What if someone joined the site before they were married, but never contacted anyone? Their spouse receives your email, and confronts them. They are unable to convince their spouse that they never cheated, and the marriage comes to an end. Do you feel culpability in this case?

Re: The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked

#194

Post by Hhefferman1989 »

mootothemax wrote: post #104
dang wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a word for things that only other people can be? The one that always comes to mind is "tourist".

Is there a word for things that only other people can be? Kinda along similar lines: expats vs. immigrants. "Oh no, Paul and Iza are expats . Not at all like those job-stealing immigrants who moved in next door..." (aside: does wrong fit your original question?)

This isn't a valid example. "Expat" is a very specifically defined term in the vernacular of people that live outside of their home countries: it means a person that moved to another country for a specific job (usually because they were recruited into that job). Expat is a sub-class of immigrant; not all immigrants are expats, but all expats are immigrants. Also, despite what people that make this argument try to claim, many self-identifying and generally accepted "Expats" are not white and / or come from non-Western countries.

Re: The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked

#195

Post by simoncion »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #148
in3d wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, this OPM hack might have a huge national security impact.

Does anybody need to restate the obvious: Go through the OPM leak and cross-check everybody with TS-SCI clearance with the AM database. Bingo-presto, big list of folks you can blackmail to do government favors. Take about 2 minutes.

If you're blackmailable, or financially in dire straits, you should not hold a TS clearance. Seriously. End of story.

If someone with a TS clearance ever has someone attempt to blackmail them, they're obligated to tell their boss and security officer(s).

Re: The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked

#196

Post by illyism »

bagels wrote: post #52
minimaxir wrote: post #44

Question: what are the legalities for downloading and performing analysis on the dataset? The Washington Post has downloaded the dataset for journalism ( https://twitter.com/pbump/status/633844944105512964 ), but I would be interested in looking at the statistics in the data for visualization purposes; however, that likely doesn't fall under journalistic shield.

I'd like to know this too. I remember seeing a talk by Facebook on Youtube by their security team that they will download these datasets to see if Facebook users have used the same passwords so that they can protect accounts. It would be unfortunate if this was less than legal.

How is Facebook able to do this if the passwords are hashed in a different manner? Are they storing passwords in plain text?

Re: The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked

#197

Post by simoncion »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #155

I've thought some about this, as it looks like this kind of travesty is going to continue to happen online. Where are my personal boundaries over what is acceptable or unacceptable? It's an uncomfortable exploration. I've decided that if I am driving by a car accident -- perhaps a drunk driver careened into a bus -- I will slow down and take a good gawk. There's something in human nature that drives that impulse. I w…

> ...I will slow down and take a good gawk.

I understand the impulse, but please don't do this when there's any traffic on the road. Slowing to gawk in the presence of traffic creates an area of slow that persists for a surprisingly long time. :)

Re: The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked

#198

Post by ZoFreX »

daemin wrote: post #8
tptacek wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like, you know who has a stronger opinion about wrongdoing than people who dislike infidelity? The people who picket abortion clinics. Also: there's a neat parallel to the NSA here, in that a substantial portion of the users registered for A.M. probably haven't been unfaithful, and are getting "dragnetted" up with the people who have, because who's going to take the time to sort that out?

Was there ever any requirement that one be in a relationship to join the site? I'm sure more than a few would have joined, while pretending to be in one, and subsequently have started a relationship.

According to this poster: https://www.reddit.com/r/lgbt/comments/3ebzzj/i_may_get_ston... there is not a requirement to be in a relationship to use the site. And now he might die, because of the leak.

Re: The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked

#199

Post by ZoFreX »

varjag wrote: post #158
lentil_soup wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the line is on whether it's a personal/private matter and when it's not. The NSA is a government agency, so what it does is in the public interest. A guy planning to bomb something is also by definition affecting the public so exposing that is also in the public interest. This hack, the fappening and similar are completely personal and private so they are of no concern to anyone but the people involved in it.

Infidelity is not a private matter however: the person being cheated on has the right to know. For a million cheaters, there's a million their SOs, often living miserable lives but denied an informed choice about their future and kept at non-negligible health risk. It stops being a private matter when it trespasses into other people's life.

They don't have a right to know. Not in the sense that you and I have a right to privacy, free expression, choice of religion, and so on. Yes, they deserve to know, and it would be a nice thing indeed for them to find out. But they don't have a right.

Re: The Ashley Madison Database Was Leaked

#200

Post by spacecowboy_lon »

dsacco wrote: post #4
tptacek wrote: post #2

The response to this this on Twitter would be beyond fucked- up if it weren't so completely predictable. People are posting direct links to the dump, screenshots of lists of emails, and statistics for classes of domains. The general reaction to the availability of the dump is reasonably characterized as "glee". But no matter what you think about Ashley Madison --- and I think A.M. is so comically scummy that I had tr…

This is a great comment, Thomas. I had an argument with my girlfriend about this. No matter what reasoning I used, no matter what I said, she could not agree that it was wrong that Ashley Madison (A.M.) was hacked. Her position was that marital infidelity is such a pubishable offense that the participants on A.M. deserve to be publicly outed. In her view, it was not even up for debate. She felt so powerfully about in…

Presumably she would be fine with a case where Man uses his contacts to find his wife (who left him) via a mate in the phone company?

This is an actual case used at British Telecom to emphasize how you should NEVER abuse your access privs.

The sobering end of the story he killed her.

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