IDG NEWS – Aug 31 – Russian-speaking hackers have breached 97 sites, mostly dating-related, and stolen login credentials. They don't appear to be selling the data just yet. Many of the sites appear to have database flaws known as SQL injection flaws.
Month: August 2015
Parship And ElitePartner Will Remain Independent For Now
DIE WELT – Aug 30 - Parship and ElitePartner, two German dating sites that were bought by Oakley Capital, won't be merged. "We will see later how the companies can work together. Our intention is to maintain both brands and to sharpen their profile," said Parship CEO Tim Schiffers.
by Birger Nicolai
See full article at Die Welt
Ashley Madison Courted Several Buyers Before Hack
REUTERS – Aug 28 - Ashley Madison has been struggling to sell itself or raise funds for at least three years before the hack, according to internal documents and emails also released by hackers. CEO Noel Biderman was trying to secure a meeting with IAC. "They would be crazy not to speak with us," wrote Biderman in February this year. But one IAC director replied: "They don't want it." The emails also show that Avid Life came close to selling itself at least three times in 2012.
Hinge Survey: Majority Of Dating App Users Want Relationship
INDEPENDENT.CO.UK – Aug 29 – The dating app Hinge surveyed its users, and found that only 2% stated that they just wanted casual ‘hook-ups’, whereas 63% were looking for relationships and 33% for dates. This has led them to add a new feature: users can disclose their ‘relationship intentions’ on their profile.
by Olivia Blair
See full article at Independent.co.uk
Avid Life Media CEO Noel Biderman Is Leaving The Company
TECH CRUNCH – Aug 28 – Avid Life Media CEO Noel Biderman is stepping down. The company describes Biderman’s departure as a “mutual agreement". The company will be led by senior management until a new CEO can be found.
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
Ashley Madison’s Female Users Are Non-existent
FINANCIAL POST – Aug 28 – In April, Ashley Madison's head of international relations Christoph Kraemer estimated the company's value at $1B, pegging the ratio of men to women in the 30-45 age range at ~50-50. But a data analysis by the Gawker affiliate Gizmodo revealed there were only 5.5M female profiles and only ~12K of them displayed evidence of being connected to actual women who used the site. 10K accounts were registered to ashleymadison.com email addresses, while ~81K appear to have been created on an Ashley Madison computer, based on their IP addresses. If those allegations are true that's likely the last nail in the coffin for the site, said dating company consultant Mark Brooks. "I think people would have forgiven (the security breach). I think they would have gotten over that, as long as they put safeguards in place so it doesn’t happen again," Brooks said. "This, they don't move on from. This means this brand is not trustworthy. That’s a big deal."
by Claire Brownell
See full article at Financial Post
Mark Brooks: Alexa tells us that the female population is greatly under-represented and their confidence on this stat is 'high.'
New Dating App Spritzr Lets Users Play Matchmaker For Their Single Friends
BUSTLE – Aug 28 – Spritzr, which launched today, allows users to refer potential love interests to their single friends via Facebook. There's a leaderboard that shows which Matchmakers are doing a great job at setting up their friends. They can earn bronze, silver, or gold status.
The Ashley Madison Hacker Might Be Tweeting
WSJ – Aug 27 – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating the hack of Ashley Madison. Security blogger Brian Krebs thinks he has a clue. A self-described hacker who calls himself Thadeus Zu on Twitter appears to have had intimate knowledge of the hack, has defended the hackers and appears to be a fan of the AC/DC song, "Thunderstruck," which played a key role in the breach. "It's not uncommon for people involved in hacks to have trouble keeping their mouths shut," said Mr. Krebs.
by Danny Yadron
See full article at WSJ
Hookup Apps Result Of Gender Imbalance In Dating Market
WASHINGTON POST – Aug 27 – Today's college and post-college hookup culture is a byproduct, not of Tinder or Facebook, but of shifting demographics among the college-educated, as the widening gender gap in college enrollment has created lopsided numbers in the post-college dating pool. The dating pool for straight, millennial, college graduates now has four women for every three men. Dating and mating behavior is influenced by prevailing sex ratios, when there are plenty of marriageable men, dating culture emphasizes courtship and romance, but when gender ratios skew toward women the whole dating culture becomes more sexualized.