Ashley Madison is an online dating website, dedicated to
helping married men and women have affairs in secret. In
July of 2015, the website was hacked by a group of hackers
called "The Impact Team", who believe themselves to be
"hacktivists". They released personal information of Ashley
Madison users onto the deep web. Although the hackers had
good intentions, not all do. Hacking is very dangerous, and
your personal information can be released all over the internet,
without your permission or knowledge.
The Ashley Madison hack made a huge impact on society;
not only did it out those who were cheating on their
be protected against and safe from hacks can be hacked into,
and personal information can easily be widely distrubuted,
possibly ruining lives and futures in the process.
In the modern world, there is no such thing as privacy.
All the information we share online, even on private profiles,
can be spread across the globe in a matter of minutes, thanks
to technology created with the intention of making our lives
easier, such as the internet, computers, and phones. The
people who had their lives shattered by the Ashley Madison
hack may have deserved it, but not everyone who is hacked
does. Because of this information being widely distributed,
families have been torn apart.
There is no way to prevent hacks from occuring. Even the
most secure banks can be broken into. However, you can
prevent your information from being stolen by not posting
it online. Passwords can be made more secure by choosing
a random assortment of letters an numbers instead of dictionary
words and birthdates or anniversaries. The most important thing
to remember, though, is that if your information isn't on the web,
people can't hack into your online accounts to release it.
