John McAfee opines:
Yes, it is true. Ashley Madison was not hacked – the data was stolen by a woman operating on her own who worked for Avid Life Media. The reason that I am so late to the second act of the Ashley Madison affair is that, without a supercomputer, it has taken over a week to finish the analysis of the massive data dumps that the perpetrator has so generously provided us with.
[…]
Today, I can confidently claim that the single person is a woman, and has recently worked within Avid Life Media. I have provided IBTimes UK background information and pertinent elements of the woman’s data dump to prove both my access to the data and also to confirm elements of my research, under the strict conditions that it is to be referenced and then destroyed. The data I provided included such delicate material as the decoded password hash tables of every Avid Life and Ashley Madison employee, which I have also now destroyed.
Read more on International Business Times.
Interesting analysis. One small thing about it bothers me, though. He is making several assumptions to reach his conclusions, but he never states this fact, nor does he state the assumptions. For example, he states that it was a single female employee who was responsible, based on the wording of the manifesto. This indicates the manifesto was written by a woman. He is assuming that the entire operation was carried out by a single individual. It’s minor, I know, but keep this in mind when reading the story.
I read it all within an air of humour. I mean, some stuff he does is over the top, sexist, and made to be comical. Is he being dead serious? Don’t know.
“To call an act the day after Valentines Day “spiteful”, is a thought that would enter few men’s minds. If this does not convince you then you need to get out of the house more often.”
Come on guys… did that make you chuckle when you first read it? Did you nod your head and laugh? (Dissent is not allowed to comment on this)
Maybe he’s being dead serious, but I read it as partly/mostly humourous. Will be even more funny if it turns out to be true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg
keep that above vid in mind as you re-read it 😉
To be clear: an anonymous commenter is saying that I’m not allowed to comment on something on my own site?
Okaaaay….. 🙂
laff. I meant it in a nice way (mostly to protect myself in case you took offense to what I said). *sigh* guess i’ll shut-up now and chew on the other foot.
On a serious note: did you read Brian Krebs’ analysis of who the hacker might be? If not, read http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/08/who-hacked-ashley-madison/
read about it, didn’t see that link though. The only conclusion I agree with is this:
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Thadeus Zu — whoever and wherever he is in real life — may not have been directly involved in the Ashley Madison hack…
… If Zu wasn’t involved in the hack, he almost certainly knows who was.
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Or a bud with shared chuckles and who’s only involvement was the idea for Thunderstruck to be loaded. Could be a few things.
“Everything is cool. Getting married this year. I am just waiting for my girl to divorce her husband.”
Shared chuckles with buds is my first thought.