‘Bring me the head of the AC/DC-loving Ashley Madison hacker’

At a Toronto Police news conference, law enforcement officers updated the media on the investigation into the Ashley Madison hack.

In the news conference, police revealed that workers at Canada-based Avid Life Media, owner of the Ashley Madison adultery website, were greeted with a threatening message from the hackers on July 12th, accompanied by the track “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC.

Of course, we know that the hackers – who went by the name of Impact Team – kept their word, and released the Ashley Madison database.

Acting staff superintendent Bryce Evans of the Toronto police said its role was to protect members of the public, and that the fact that some people might be offended by the Ashley Madison service would not deter it from conducting a vigorous and thorough investigation into the criminal hack.

“The ripple effect of the Impact Team’s actions has and will continue to have a long term social and economic impacts, and they have already sparked spin-offs of crimes and further victimisation. As of this morning, we have two unconfirmed reports of suicide that are associated with the leak of Ashley Madison customer profiles.

“Criminals have already engaged in online scams by claiming to provide access to the leaked website. The public needs to be aware that by clicking on these links, you are exposing your computers to malware, spyware, adware and viruses.”

Police have created a Twitter account, @AMcaseTPS in a bid to gather more information, and are calling upon the hacking community to get in touch if they have information.

Those with information are invited to call the investigation team at (416) 808-2040 or via email at [email protected]

At the end of his statement, Acting staff superintendent Bryce Evans of the Toronto police revealed that Avid Life Media is offering a CDN $500,000 reward (approximately, GBP 240,000 or USD 377,000) for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of those involved in the leak of the database.

In short, bring me the head of the Ashley Madison hacker.

• Ashley Madison's leaked database available for download - read this first
• Ashley Madison blackmailers now sending threats via US postal system
• Here's what an Ashley Madison blackmail letter looks like
• Now it's Ashley Madison wives who are receiving blackmail letters
• 'Bring me the head of the AC/DC-loving Ashley Madison hacker'
• Suicide and Ashley Madison
• Ashley Madison: Betting site offers odds on who will be exposed
• 'Yes. I was a member of the Ashley Madison website. But I wasn’t there to cheat on anyone'
• Ashley Madison hack could expose 37 million 'cheating dirtbags'
• No Ashley Madison, you weren't burgled by terrorists
• Ashley Madison users warned of password risk
• Cracked Ashley Madison passwords consistent with years of poor security
• Post-hack, Ashley Madison offers members full and free account deletion
• Don't judge Ashley Madison users too quickly, their accounts may be fake
• Just who is joining the Ashley Madison website?
• Fembots land Ashley Madison in hot water with the FTC
• Ashley Madison's marketing department clearly didn't get the memo
• Ashley Madison: Further thoughts on its aftermath
• Ashley Madison hack claims another victim: Its CEO
• Ashley Madison slammed with $1.6 million fine for devastating data breach

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.