Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login
SEO expert hired and fired by Ashley Madison turned on company promising revenge (krebsonsecurity.com)
75 points by picture on July 13, 2023 | hide | past | favorite | 31 comments



Why does Ashley Madison need to make fake profiles? Are there not enough women who want sugar relationships in the US?

edit: why the downvote? In Japan it's the opposite situation.


Not just Ashley Madison, every dating/relationship site is full of fake female profiles. Why? Of course, to force guys to pay in order to respond to winks by these these fake females. There is an old muslim matrimony site based in UK, it is full of fake profiles, they just want to force guys to pay subscription fees in order to respond. Once guys buy subscriptions, these women don't respond.


>why the downvote? In Japan it's the opposite situation.

Cultural differences maybe.

Isnt US country of independence and freedom, so the thought of a need of sugar daddy is crazy for them?


Has this story ever been turned into a dramatic TV series or film? Or maybe a thriller, or even a comedy (based on how bad this guy is at being a criminal)?


Literally the very first text of the article is "[This is Part II of a story published here last week on reporting that went into a new Hulu documentary series on the 2015 Ashley Madison hack.]".


You're right, I only read the first half of that sentence before I skipped to the next sentence. I need to stop trying to speed read, I'm missing important details!


I have a close friend that I work with often, that often talks about his speed reading abilities, and I kid you not, he basically misunderstands important info or concepts in basically everything he is tasked with reading. I'd slow down.


If it's worth reading, it's worth reading. "Speed reading", to the degree it's meaningful at all, only applies to a few cases: skimming repetitive things, like a collection of news articles on a topic; stuff full of filler (e.g. business books), and doing a quick overview of a scientific paper before going back to the top and reading it carefully and slowly.

And honestly, in the first couple of cases: why read that stuff at all?


Hulu just released an Ashley Madison series. So, yes.


The title of this is a good example of a garden path sentence.


"SEO Expert Hired and Fired By Ashley Madison Turned on"

Hehe. Good catch. I doubt the use of "turned on" was intended to be funny here, given the source, but it sure does read like a satirical news headline.


> It is evident that Harrison was Biderman’s top suspect immediately after the breach became public

Would an SEO expert really be given access to internal tools necessary to pull of this data breach?


It’s been my experience that without regulatory heat it takes a massive, embarrassing mistake to get traction on internal tool lockdowns and security.


Who knew krebsonsecurity wrote so much fluff. Like get to the point already bro.


[flagged]


OK, but can you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to HN? We're trying for something different here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html


[flagged]


Not just that, the fake profiles ("decoys") also seem like basic fraud.


People in all countries around the world cheat. It is not a unique American value.


It's glorified in American culture. Tv shows, literally every drama, memes, constant cheating references in memes ,like "my wife's boyfriend said..."


Any other vice is perfectly fashionable now. Especially greed. Why should this be any different.


in almost every vice the "perpetrator" is also the direct and most affected victim, and it's in their power to leave this vice behind.

this is not the case for affairs, it's fundmentally different, I wouldn't even call it a vice.


[flagged]


> impactful against the users

dude, what?

People committed suicide the last time this shit happened.

Maybe redirect your outrage at the company's executives?


> People committed suicide the last time this shit happened.

It sucks, but you can't save people from themselves.

Case in point: I periodically fish for people browsing Ashley Madison at work. They go onto a watchlist as candidates for blackmail (I'm moved to tears by how many of them have clearances). The presumption is that if you're doing this on a work device, you're hiding something from your spouse (which can be exploited).

The Chinese play the sextortion game; I assume their interest in Grindr was related.


[flagged]


> I’m explaining marketing 101 because a lot of hackers fail at it

You're jawboning and being edgy on the internet, let's not pretend it's for our benefit.


I'd actually like to see this as an improvement to a big dump, and this is the first space I've seen where this discussion is applicable.

Nothing I said was inaccurate, the 2015 breach was dissected and was followed by more signups by women filling in the gap.

I think there is something wrong with the consensus from you all.


What your missing is that to an outsider reading your posts, you're transparently indulging in edgy fantasies, and what you're proposing is actually a strategy to hurt people more effectively. So we tell you that what you're advocating for is gross.

You seem to have taken that as a sign we aren't smart enough to understand your point. That's not the right takeaway. If you think the accuracy of your statements is relevant to people's criticisms, you haven't understood them. If you think you have a good point that we haven't given full credence to, it's not our fault as an audience that you presented your ideas poorly.

Good luck.


the big dumps are going to happen

my general mantra is focus on what you can control


I don't think hackers should release people's private information at all


Probably, companies should not store private information to be then stolen by hackers. But this and yours opinions don't matter as money talks. Capitalism does not care of what's right or wrong. Unfortunately, people sometimes, too.


> the most it did was reveal that there werent enough real women in the website and many NPCs, so enterprising sex workers signed up to fill the market void, turning the site into a success and saving the company from fraud claims.

How did this work for the sex workers? At some point, they need to bring up "getting paid" and that's not going to be a comfortable conversation given the client expectations.


But if those clients were married, then they may have been willing to pay regardless of what their expectation were.


decently well? plenty of people use Ashley Madison just like Seeking Arrangements, plenty of people on Seeking are looking for something for free

ask some sex workers there are a couple subreddits




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: