Ashley Madison hackers release vast database of 33m accounts

Second release of data by Impact Team hackers reveals senior staff raised concerns about security on infidelity site a month before it was attacked

Hackers have released what appear to be sensitive and confidential details of 33m user accounts on the infidelity site Ashley Madison, including names, addresses, emails and information about their sexual preferences. The data from the website, whose tagline is "Life is short. Have an affair", was released by hackers from the Impact Team cybergroup, and took the form of a 10GB database on the "dark web" that could be accessed through a specialised web browser called Tor.

One coder then created a site for internet users where it was possible to enter a specific email address to see if that matched a customer record, potentially allowing spouses to check whether their partners had an account on the controversial site.