back to article Adult FriendFinder hack EXPOSES MEELLIONS of MEMBERS

Hackers have pilfered and published the personal details and sexual preferences of 3.9 million users of hookup website Adult FriendFinder. Lusty lonely hearts, including those who asked for their account to be deleted, have been left in an awkward position after hackers broke into systems before uploading the details to the …

  1. Picky

    Met my wife

    Met my wife on AdultfriendFinder -0 10 years ago - good job I've moved since then ....

    1. Adolph Clickbait

      Re: Met my wife

      Sounds like an awkward date.

      Does she like pina coladas?

      1. Captain Hogwash
        Coffee/keyboard

        Re: Does she like pina coladas?

        I wish I could upvote this many times.

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: pina colada

          Knocking on a bit, are we?

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Met my wife

        correction: does she STILL like pina coladas?

        (sorry for the hijack, ho-hum)

      4. chivo243 Silver badge

        Re: Met my wife

        @Adolph Clickbait

        Or getting caught in the rain?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Met my wife

      "But darling, my preference for even-toed ungulates is a reference to yoga pants and Camel Toe, I swear. Nothing more."

    3. Bloakey1

      Re: Met my wife

      I met her as well. She was very nice.

  2. frank ly

    Phew

    "Email addresses, usernames, postcodes, dates of birth and IP addresses of 3.9 million members have been exposed."

    'Junk' email address, not quite true personal details, VPN - I'm safe.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Phew

      'Junk' email address, not quite true personal details, VPN - I'm safe.

      Well, "ish" - they'll catch who you are via the credit cards and any trackers such as for advertising, but in general it's a good idea to use a fake name and a throw away email address on those sites anyway - even if they're not hacked, you never quite know what other use that information will have.

      There too you need to use protection..

    2. SuccessCase

      Re: Phew

      @frank ly Now you just have to hope El Reg doesn't get hacked because seeing as you've just 'fessed up on here !

  3. The Vociferous Time Waster

    Oh no!

    Now the world will know I am tall, dark, handsome and hung like a lion.

    1. joeW

      Re: Oh no!

      Lions aren't all that well hung.

      1. Kevin Johnston

        Re: Oh no!

        They should be well hung.....several days at least to improve the quality of the meat

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Oh no!

          But when hanging them check periodically that the bonds are not too tight and that the mask (I any) doesn't hamper breathing.

  4. Rainer

    I still remember when our new mailserver was misconfigured and the aff-notifications got stuck in the queue.

    I was quite shocked about how many there were.

    And our clients are mostly businesses (we're an ISP).

    But hey, if you receive the messages on your work-account, your SO might will find out, right?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      > if you receive the messages on your work-account, your SO [...]

      Stack Overflow?

      Or have I just proved beyond all doubt how I lack a life?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    delightful

    morsel for spooks fishing for an angle (oh, he likes staring at goats, does he now?!) And please don't tell me they have NOT copied that leaked database!

    1. TheOtherHobbes

      Re: delightful

      >And please don't tell me they have NOT copied that leaked database!

      They probably set up AFF in the first place.

  6. edge_e
    WTF?

    Moving the goal posts?

    it once again highlights that it is no longer about prevention, but instead about accepting a data breach will occur and moving to a proactive approach which allows better preparation for dealing with today’s threats

    I'm more concerned about his attitude than the breach

  7. chivo243 Silver badge
    Headmaster

    members exposed?

    Isn't that the end goal with this site?

    1. petur
      Pint

      Re: members exposed?

      you beat me to it, cheers

  8. CommanderGalaxian
    Devil

    This could get random.

    I've no idea what boxes I ticked...must go check.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B97e2XXxKdM

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's not my bag, baby!

    Where'd you get that picture?? That's not me, I would never wear leather. Plus it looks way too tight.

    It's hackers baby, trying to destroy me!

    That goat? A friend brought it to the party for show and tell.

    I'm done trying to defend myself, this is obviously all a fabrication, who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?

    1. chivo243 Silver badge

      Re: It's not my bag, baby!

      Chief Wiggum: Hey, I got pictures of you, Quimby.

      Mayor Quimby: You don't scare me, that could be anyone's ass.

  10. Rob

    We know who it was...

    ... this has got BOFH written all over it, this is the mother load, he could extort the whole of the management and director tier probably.

    1. Pookietoo
      Headmaster

      Re: We know who it was...

      "mother lode"

  11. wolfetone Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    I look forward to these details being made public so I can email those girls in my area without paying for the service.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    After the hackers are executed...

    ...the site operators should be fined millions for their negligence.

  13. Bob Dole (tm)

    Wrong title

    Instead of "Adult FriendFinder data hack leaves millions of members exposed"

    You *should* have titled it:

    Adult FriendFinder data hack leaves millions of exposed members

    Much better that way.

  14. L05ER

    sure would be nice...

    If any of these news sites would post a link to the databases so I can check for my email... Been about 10yrs, but I guess delete requests weren't really honored.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How can you check if you're on there?

    1. TonyJ
      Devil

      How can you check if you're on there?

      How can you check if your other half is on there, might be more appropriate? :)

  16. MrXavia

    Who would put their real details on there?

    Surely this is a large list of junk email addresses, fake names & fake addresses....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      some people want the paid features so they will have had to put in credit card details which might have meant real names even if the card details didn't leak.

    2. L05ER

      Anyone using the site as it was intended... Certain features were only available with verified ID.

      Which makes complete sense... It would be a rapist's playground if it were actually anonymous.

    3. Bucky 2

      Heh heh. You said "junk email addresses." Heh heh heh.

  17. Banksy
    Joke

    Protection

    You'd think an adult site would know the importance of using protection.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not payment details?

    Payment details would bother me. They didn't verify the DOB so I expect most of them are off a few days/years depending on whether for security or vanity. That leaves postcodes which will cover most of the world.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Millions of members exposed!

    That's all part of the FriendFinder premium package!!

  20. Alan Brown Silver badge

    OLD news

    Hackers have been running round the Adultfriendfinder internal network since _at least_ 2004 when I found them doing it.

    The staff freely admitted that the hackers were there (several of them are manchester based) but never notified Californian authorities as required by law there.

    Trying to inform Californian privacy authorities about it proved fruitless too.

  21. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

    Junk e-mail address

    Well, I'm proud of it. But not enough to give it it's own address.

    Its got better things to do than correspond with strangers. Like do all of my thinking.

  22. jwp07050

    One of the most obvious uses for this leaked data is to blackmail certain types of people. Such as current or potentially future politicians that have or currently still use the site. True, CC info could be confiscated and used, but I'd put my money on blackmailing uses.

  23. HippyChippy

    84/16

    Putting security concerns aside for one moment, didn't Channel4 also reveal that the AdultFF membership was 84% male and 16% female?

    I'd like to know if the more expensive and 'upmarket' dating sites offered any better odds?

    Good luck chaps!

  24. Nameless Faceless Computer User

    90% of the profiles are faked to attract rubes to sign up for the service. AFF were those responsible for utterly destroying the Yahoo! profile database with fake ID's, all pointing back to their service. The other 10% are actual people who use fake names. Who would want a database of all that junk?

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      "AFF were those responsible for utterly destroying the Yahoo! profile database with fake ID's"

      In a circuitous way yes.

      AFF paid affiliate fees to those who can get new signups onto their site. That gives them plausible deniability over the spamming (and a way of not paying out if there are complaints). Other sex site operators copied this method and affiliate spam is still one of the more pernicious things to deal with as there's no legislation to hold the businesses jointly and severally responsible for the actions of "affiliates".

      The business itself is toxic. Penthouse bought them out a few years ago for around $500mil, but it turned out to be a poison pill and now AFF's creator owns Penthouse.

  25. Richard Taylor 2
    Happy

    Don't worry

    The NSA/GCHQ can provide you with all the details

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