Tales From The Trenches: Lessons Learned From The Ashley Madison Data Breach

In July 2015, the online cheating website Ashley Madison was hacked and data pertaining to its 37 million users were published online. The story made headlines given the sensitive nature of the information exposed, the number of people affected and the sensational details of the hack, which included allegations of fraud, blackmail and extortion. The media outed several politicians and celebrities as paying customers, while some websites indexed the breached data, allowing people to search for email addresses to see if their spouses or significant others had accounts. Between lawsuits, resignations, suicides and countless stories of extortion and divorce, the fallout from the breach has been immense. Nearly one year later, a joint investigation by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Australian Privacy Commissioner (collectively, "the Commission") has issued a scathing report that provides remarkable insight into the breach and what qualifies as an appropriate