Two commit suicide over Ashley Madison leak, say police

By Keith Nelson Jr. Published August 24, 2015

Two people associated with the Ashely Madison hack have committed suicide, acting staff superintendent Bryce Evans of the Toronto police revealed at a press conference on Monday.

Evans and the Toronto police did not give any further information on the identities of the two people or their connection to the Ashley Madison hack, the BBC reported, but he did offer a C$500,000 ($378,415 U.S.) reward for any information on the hackers, The Impact Team. While the police are still searching for the hackers, officer Evans made a point of stating that their days are numbered.

Recommended Videos

“I want to make it very clear to you your actions are illegal and we will not be tolerating them. This is your wake-up call,” he said.

33 million account details were stolen in the hack, which was described as “very sophisticated” by Detective John Menard, supervisor of the Toronto Police Department’s Technological Crime Section. Evans attests that only the last four digits of credit cards were leaked, but still advises those whose may have been affected to review their accounts.

The Ashley Madison hack occurred on July 12 when employees of the site’s parent company, Avid Life media were met with a message to the music of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” when they attempted to log in to the company accounts. Officer Evans revealed that the hack has spurred “spin-offs of crimes” connected to people engaging in “online scams by claiming to provide access to the leaked websites.”

The police are also not above implementing the tried and true method of “can’t beat ’em, join ’em” to catch the hackers, it seems. The police are said to be seeking information from the hacking community about The Impact Team. They’re also hitting the tweet streets, setting up the Twitter account @AMCaseTPS and hashtag #AMCaseTPS to gather more information.

#AMcaseTPS This account allows for “Direct Messaging” w/o having to follow our account. We will respond to all messages as soon as we can

— TPS AM Investigation (@AMcaseTPS) August 24, 2015

Recent events suggest these methods will bring out the hackers from hiding. In 2011, the F.B.I. turned hacker Hector “Sabu” Monsegur, former member of online vigilante group Anonymous, into an informant. From 2011 until 2014, Monsegur helped the FBI prevent upwards of 300 attacks on governments and corporations.

Keith Nelson Jr.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Keith Nelson Jr is a music/tech journalist making big pictures by connecting dots. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY he…

Topics

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content -- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.