Ashley Madison Hack: White House, Congressional Workers Used Office Internet to Access, Pay on Infidelity Website
Days after the revelation that conservative Christian reality TV star Josh Duggar allegedly had two accounts with a website that promotes extra-marital affairs, hundreds of leaked accounts on Ashley Madison have now been traced to employees at the White House, Congress and law enforcement agencies, who appear to have used their office Internet connections to access and pay membership fees on the website.
The Associated Press says it was able to trace several accounts found in the hacked data, carrying 36 million email addresses for 33 million accounts, to federal workers.
Included in the data is the account information of at least two assistant U.S. attorneys; an information technology administrator in the Executive Office of the President; a division chief, an investigator and a trial attorney in the Justice Department; a government hacker at the Homeland Security Department and another DHS employee who supposedly worked on a U.S. counterterrorism response team.
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The data of the website, which claims to protect anonymity for procuring adulterous affairs, was dumped by a hacking group that calls itself Impact Team.
Those who used their government Internet connections to log in to the website over a period of five years included workers at more than two dozen Obama administration agencies, including the departments of State, Defense, Justice, Energy, Treasury, Transportation and Homeland Security.
House and Senate computer networks were also used.
Several federal employees apparently used non-government email addresses with handles such as "sexlessmarriage," "soontobesingle" and "latinlovers."
The stolen data includes approximately 10,000 email addresses belonging to government officials or workers with .gov addresses, according to The Daily Beast, which is yet to verify the authenticity of all the accounts.
Some of these accounts are linked to the email addresses of members of the National Security Agency.
There is information about accounts also of numerous officials from the Australian and British governments.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Josh Duggar, former executive director of Family Research Council's lobbying arm, paid nearly $1,000 for two subscriptions to the Ashley Madison website.
Duggar, the oldest son of the now-canceled TLC reality show "19 Kids and Counting," admitted Thursday that he cheated on his wife, Anna, and developed a secret addiction to pornography.
"I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him," Duggar said. "I have brought hurt and a reproach to my family, close friends and the fans of our show with my actions."
FRC President Tony Perkins condemned Duggar's actions. "We are grieved by Josh's conduct and the devastating impact of his pornography addiction and marital unfaithfulness," Perkins said in a statement issued to The Christian Post. "Our hearts hurt for his family, and all those affected by Josh's actions."
Perkins continued by stating that Duggar and everyone else who advocates for traditional family morals should be held to a "higher standard."
"His deceitful behavior harms his family, his friends, his former coworkers, and the cause he has publicly espoused," Perkins asserted. "Those of us who advocate for family values in the public square are held to a higher standard, and Josh's failures serve as a painful reminder of the destructive effects of not living with integrity. We are praying for the family."
The hackers released the data online on Tuesday.
"Avid Life Media has failed to take down Ashley Madison and Established Men. We have explained the fraud, deceit, and stupidity of ALM and their members. Now everyone gets to see their data," Impact Team said. "Find someone you know in here? Keep in mind the site is a scam with thousands of fake female profiles. See ashley madison fake profile lawsuit; 90-95% of actual users are male. Chances are your man signed up on the world's biggest affair site, but never had one. He just tried to. If that distinction matters. Find yourself in here? It was ALM that failed you and lied to you. Prosecute them and claim damages. Then move on with your life. Learn your lesson and make amends. Embarrassing now, but you'll get over it."
