Is Ashley Madison Still a Thing? A Look Back at the Scandalous Data Leak

A new Netflix documentary invites you to cast your mind back to the summer of 2015, when users of the controversial dating service Ashley Madison had their personal data exposed. Targeting users with the now-infamous slogan, “Life is short. Have an affair,” the site promised a discreet, non-judgemental space where like-minded cheaters could find each other, but failed to secure the highly sensitive data relating to its millions of users. The three-part series Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal explores the rise and fall of AshleyMadison.com, and delves into what drew people to the site in the first place—and keeps it going strong to this day.

Is Ashley Madison still a thing?

Yes. Though it’s still best known for its marriage-ruining scandal, Ashley Madison was able to recover from the data leak and continue to operate. Today, the site bills itself as “the No. 1 married dating app,” and markets its services to people who are married or in committed relationships, but looking to find a “discreet” side piece. Ashley Madison claims to have more than 80 million members worldwide as of spring 2024.

A scientific study recently conducted on users of Ashley Madison produced some interesting findings about people’s motivations and experiences of cheating via the site. Published in the academic journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, the study found that participants “were highly satisfied with their affairs and expressed little moral regret,” even though the majority of them were not in consensually open relationships with their partners. Low relationship quality also wasn’t found to be a primary motivator in affairs, and affairs didn’t predict a decline in relationship quality. All in all, the researchers concluded that neither ethics nor relationship satisfaction had much to do with people’s feelings about their affairs.

Who founded Ashley Madison?

Noel Biderman founded the site in 2001. Biderman, who hails from Toronto, Canada, worked in real estate and sports litigation before coming up with the idea for Ashley Madison. According to a Bloomberg profile published in 2011 (via Insider), inspiration struck because Biderman’s work as a sports attorney often involved “helping professional basketball players juggle their wives and mistresses.”

As the site became increasingly successful, Biderman rebranded himself as an “infidelity expert,” sitting for interview with the likes of Dr. Phil and Katie Couric, and writing a number of books about the upsides of adultery. Throughout all of this, Biderman claimed to be entirely faithful to his own wife, Amanda, whom he married in 2003. But in 2015, that narrative fell apart.

What was the Ashley Madison scandal?

In July of 2015, a group of hackers calling themselves “The Impact Team” announced that they had breached Ashley Madison’s servers and stolen the personal data of its 37 million members. The hackers threatened to release the data publicly unless Ashley Madison was shut down, and released a small portion of the information (around 2,500 user records) as as warning shot. But Ashley Madison’s parent company, Avid Life Media, insisted that the hackers had been unsuccessful and that its systems were “completely secured”.

A month later, the hackers followed through on their threat to expose all of the company’s data. According to Wired, seven years’ worth of customer information was posted online as part of the leak, which included users’ full names, addresses, phone numbers and credit card information, along with detailed information about exactly what members were seeking on the site. For a service whose main selling point was discretion, it was a devastating reputational blow.

“We have explained the fraud, deceit, and stupidity of A.L.M. and their members,” Impact Team wrote. “Now everyone gets to see their data.”

In response, Ashley Madison released a statement denouncing the leak. “This event is not an act of hacktivism, it is an act of criminality,” the company said. “It is an illegal action against the individual members of AshleyMadison.com, as well as any freethinking people who choose to engage in fully lawful online activities. The criminal, or criminals, involved in this act have appointed themselves as the moral judge, juror, and executioner, seeing fit to impose a personal notion of virtue on all of society.”

Who was outed on Ashley Madison?

Among the millions of people whose data was leaked, there were a few high-profile names. The most famous person outed was Josh Duggar, the former star of the TLC reality series 19 Kids and Counting, who by the time of the leak had been revealed as a sexual predator who had abused multiple underage girls, including four of his own siblings. The revelation that Duggar had engaged in extramarital affairs (using two separate Ashley Madison accounts) paled in comparison, but still played a role in the collapse of his ultra-conservative religious image. Separately, Duggar is now serving a 12-year prison sentence for possession of child pornography.

Christian YouTuber Sam Rader was also outed in the leak. Rader is one half of the influencer husband-and-wife duo Sam and Nia, who vlog about their daily lives as a Christian family in Terrell, Texas. In a video responding to the leak, Rader stated that he had made the account two years prior, before he and his wife had started making content on YouTube. “This is an issue that is in our past. This was before I got onto YouTube,” Sam said in a now-deleted video, according to People. "This was brought to my wife’s attention. She has forgiven me for this mistake that I made in opening the account. I have sought forgiveness from God and he has forgiven me, so I have been completely cleansed of this sin.”

A number of government officials were also implicated in the data breach. Wired estimated that more than 15,000 of the leaked email addresses had .gov or .mil domain names. Among them were former Florida State attorney Jeff Ashton, and Republican Party of Louisiana leader Jason Doré, who went on to work in the Trump administration.

Ashton, who is best known as the prosecutor in the high-profile 2011 case against Casey Anthony, admitted to signing up for the site out of curiosity. “I deeply regret my affiliation with the site, which has caused a great amount of stress and heartache to my wife and children," he told CNN. "I want to publicly apologize to each of them for this embarrassment and for my blatant disregard for their feelings,”

For his part, Doré claimed that he had only been on the site to conduct “opposition research”, per Politico.

Did they find who hacked Ashley Madison?

Though almost nine years have passed since the data breach, almost no information has been released about the hacker (or hackers) responsible. The parent company of the site offered a $500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible, but to not avail. All we know is that the hackers called themselves The Impact Team, and their only goal appeared to be forcing Ashley Madison to shut down, rather than any financial gain.

Biderman has publicly stated that he believes the hack was an inside job. “I’ve got their profile right in front of me, all their work credentials. It was definitely a person here that was not an employee but certainly had touched our technical services," Biderman told journalist Brian Krebs, who was the first to report on the breach. But to date, this has never been proven.

Is Noel Biderman still the CEO of Ashley Madison?

No. Biderman stepped down as CEO of Avid Life Media (the parent company of AM) in August of 2015, roughly a month after news of the breach first broke, and just days after the hackers followed through on their data dump threat. By then, a class action lawsuit had been launched against the company, and two reported suicides had also been linked to the hack.

“Effective today, Noel Biderman, in mutual agreement with the company, is stepping down as Chief Executive Officer of Avid Life Media Inc (ALM) and is no longer with the company,” said an unattributed statement on the Ashley Madison website. “Until the appointment of a new CEO, the company will be led by the existing senior management team.”

In July of 2016, Avid Life Media underwent a rebranding, changing its name to Ruby Corp, and appointed a new CEO, Rob Segal. But Ashley Madison itself continued to operate under its old name.

What happened to Noel from Ashley Madison?

According to Birderman’s LinkedIn page, he laid low for a year or so after stepping down as CEO. Since 2016, he’s been the CEO of a company named Avenue Insights. In 2021, he joined the board of directors of The Flowr Corporation, a Toronto-based cannabis company, and became the chief marketing officer for a cryptocurrency firm. More recently, he began serving as a strategic advisor overseeing gaming at WonderFi.