Ashley Madison CEO Steps Down After Hack

Troubled online infidelity warehouse Ashley Madison has announced that its founder and CEO has left the company in the wake of a huge data breach affecting its members.

Noel Biderman (pictured below), who started the site back in 2001, will be stepping down in a move which “is in the best interest of the company”, an official Ashley Madison statement said.

The senior management team will take over leadership until a new chief executive is appointed, it added.

Best interest

“This change is in the best interest of the company and allows us to continue to provide support to our members and dedicated employees. We are steadfast in our commitment to our customer base,” the statement added.

“We are actively adjusting to the attack on our business and members’ privacy by criminals. We will continue to provide access to our unique platforms for our worldwide members.”

The site, which advertises the opportunity for people to have extra-marital affairs, has endured a rocky past few weeks following an attack on its user accounts earlier this month by hackers calling themselves the Impact Team.

Overall, the details of 33 million users, including first names, last names, street addresses, and more, were stolen by the Impact Team, which has since revealed most of the data, disseminated via BitTorrent.

This later included data about Biderman himself, including details of two affairs he is alleged to have had whilst professing to be happily married.

Avid Life Media, Ashley Madison’s parent company, has offered a reward of C$500,000 (£240,000) for details about the hackers, but so far has had no luck in tracking down Impact Team.

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