Clifford Chance

Caught in the (Privacy) Act – The Ashley Madison data breach report

22 September 2016

Ashley Madison, a website targeted at people seeking a discreet affair, is now widely known by the public for all the wrong reasons. One of these reasons is its failure to properly secure the personal information of its users. The company which owns Ashley Madison, Avid Life Media (ALM), whilst headquartered in Canada had users in more than 50 countries (including Australia) who engaged with Ashley Madison and ALM's other popular websites Established Men, Cougar Life and Man Crunch. The joint report of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) into the breach provides important lessons for those concerned about user privacy.

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