Ashley Madison Hack Names and Addresses From Fairfax - Loudoun - Prince William - The One You've Been Waiting For! [Censored]

Posted by: Mrs. Snowden ()

Date: August 20, 2015 02:31AM

This comes from Ashley Madison's credit card transactions. Some fields were removed like cc last 4 and payment amount. Some names appear duplicated because of mulitple credit transactions with unique data.
This is just the short list more might follow. Sorted by zip code then name.

edit by Cary (the admin): This thread has received an enormous amount of attention, generating 130,711 unique inbound links from Facebook alone in the past 5 days. Since that time I've received a myriad of demands, pleas, and threats, both legal and personal. Please allow me to walk you through my moderation decisions regarding this thread.

Generally, dumping private information about ANYONE on Fairfax Underground is forbidden as it qualifies as a personal attack, which is against Fairfax Underground's rules. Indeed had I caught this thread early on before it generated large numbers of legitimate comments it likely would have been outright removed. However, this thread was not intended to be a personal attack against any one person but rather is a list of those affected by a security breach; a list which had been available to the more technically able for days before this post appeared.

Fairfax Underground has a long history of making local information more accessible to the less technically apt. Fairfax Underground's own Arrest/Ticket Search has been doing this for years, making freely available information previously only searchable by law firms or those with paid LexisNexis feeds. Still, this aim does not justify the leaking of personal information of thousands of local residents.

Whether intentional or not, the author of this post "Mrs. Snowden" managed to omit just enough information to call the use of moderation into question. Had this author published an outright dump of the credit card details (including the card type and last 4 digits of the card used), this thread would have qualified for immediate moderation. Similarly if the author had published the much more damning information supposedly available, including Ashley Madison profile text, private message correspondence, or the user's "selected fetishes" this thread would have been moderated immediately. The author, however, published only the necessary information to determine who was affected by this hack, none of the more private details. Because this list was supposedly generated from credit card transactions it actually made the information far more accurate and trustworthy than if the author had published a list of given names from Ashley Madison profiles, some of which would undoubtedly be fake profiles intended to impersonate or defame (and would then qualify for moderation). As the author somehow exercised journalistic discretion in choosing only to reveal the minimal amount of informaiton to correlate a real-world identity, and the public had a (observably) overwhelming interest in determining who was (or who was not) on this list, Fairfax Underground employed the default action when moderation decisions are unclear: to take no action.

Had I deleted this post upon first report, at the height of its' popularity, no doubt thousands of reposts would have immediately appeared, including on websites outside of my control, making moderation nearly impossible. Each of those reposts could have been altered, falsely including the name of an enemy or other unsuspecting victim. At the very least this list dumped by "Mrs. Snowden" appears to be accurate, a non-embelished snippet of Ashley Madison's customer database. My biggest fear was (and remains) that in the absence of authoritative information misinformation would flourish.

***IF YOU APPEAR ON THIS LIST***
Your private information was hacked and far more damaging information is likely available to anyone who can query a SQL database. The hacked databases have been widely distributed and will likely be made easily searchable in the coming days on websites beyond my control. There's unfortunately no putting this genie back in the bottle, your information is out there. Rest assured that if any more lurid details of this hack are revealed on Fairfax Underground beyond your simple inclusion as a customer they will be immediately moderated, but take this as little solace in the grand scheme.

In addition to hacked profile information I understand that full password hashes were also leaked, which are no doubt being brute forced by nefarious actors as we speak. If you use the same (or a similar) password at Ashley Madison as you do with other online services such as email you must CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS IMMEDIATELY. You must consider your Ashley Madison password compromised as it surely will be in a few weeks time. I also highly recommend abandoning the email address you used in conjunction with your Ashley Madison account altogether as this address is already in the hands of spammers and extortionists. Media reports reveal that some victims of this hack have already received threatening extortion emails. Again, these spammers and extortionists no doubt have the full widely available hacked database and do not need to pull any information from Fairfax Underground.

***IF YOU WISH TO HAVE YOUR NAME REMOVED FROM THIS LIST***
Please email me at cary@fairfaxunderground.com with a copy/paste of your name as it appears in this thread. While legitimate information is generally not removable from Fairfax Underground these are special exigent circumstances and I will honor all personal removal requests. However, just because you have been removed from this website certainly does nothing to the thousands of copies of the full database currently in existence.

In summary this thread likely warranted immediate moderation, but given the author's careful publication of just enough data to positively identify a particular individual, coupled with the enormous public interest to learn who does or does not appear on this customer list, information already available for days to the more technically minded, caused me to take no action on this thread. Had anything more than a name (ie. John Smith) and an address to correlate to that name (which John Smith?) been made available this thread would have been removed immediately. Additionally had this author made ANY other claims (using hacked profile information) or revealed anything more than necessary to identify someone as a customer it would have been moderated immediately.

It's a careful balance to run a community resource which seeks to make legitimate information freely available to all, and a balance that never pleases everyone simultaneously. This is NOT an open invitation to post any further leaked details, nor to EVER post information gained from any future hacks. This particular thread and the public's immense legitimate interest are unique and I cannot imagine a situation ever arising where this sort of list would be permissible ever again.

Please note that Fairfax Underground is not a commercial entity and generates no revenue whatsoever. There is nothing for Fairfax Underground to gain from the publication of this information, and in fact the increased traffic may wind up costing considerable overage fees. Fairfax Underground only aims to fill a void of traditional media by quenching the public's sincere interest. I sincerely apologize to all of those who feel wronged by the publication of this information, but please note that this information was available for days on less accessible resources. If anything the publication of this list now should spare those included from years of worry and blackmail by untold hoards of malicious actors. This thread may eventually be removed in its' entirety, but as it's still generating hundreds of links from Facebook every hour the potential for reposts with unverified information is too high.

End of edit by Cary (the admin).

Edit by Cary (the admin) #2: "Mrs. Snowden's" data dump would usually begin below, but this thread has been censored by a foreign (Canadian) court order, and two consecutive ISPs have bowed to the pressure. The text below has been temporarily removed and the subsequent posts have been "hidden". These changes may be reversed once the legal ambiguity is resolved. Everyone who has requested removal of their name will have their request honored before this thread is restored. For a copy of the Canadian court order and email from Toronto's Police Department please see this page: http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/abuse/ashleymadison/AMCasetps/index.html

Edited 13 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2015 03:53AM by Cary.

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