The Ashley Madison Leak: What Information Was Released?

The Ashley Madison data leak is unquestionably the most high-profile IT security event of the last year, and members of the website face serious repercussions. Ashley Madison advertises as “the world’s leading married dating service for discreet encounters,” but that discretion was compromised as hackers released about 30 gigabytes of user data, including email addresses, names, and even GPS coordinates (likely collected from mobile users).

The leaked information came from a MySQL database, and many of the fields are fairly self-explanatory. “eye_color,” for instance, gives the user’s eye color (as input by the user when signing up for an Ashley Madison profile). For many accounts, some fields are left blank.

Credit card information is stored in a separate area, and most hackers will not be able to definitively link usernames with payment information. Furthermore, the leak did not contain complete credit card numbers, so payment information should be safe; even so, we would advise Ashley Madison users to contact their card providers and request a re-issued credit or debit card.

The Ashley Madison database contains the following fields—

Table: aminno_member_email

Field	Description
pnum	The record’s primary key.
email	The account email address.
isvalid
html
optin	Whether or not the user opts in to the Ashley Madison newsletter.
notify_newmail
notify_newmember
notify_login
notify_offer

Table: member_details

pnum	The record’s primary key.
eye_color	User’s eye color.
hair_color	User’s hair color.
dob	User’s date of birth.
profile_caption	User-generated caption, visible on account profile.
profile_ethnicity	User’s self-identified ethnicity, expressed as a number.
profile_weight	User’s weight, visible on profile.
profile_height	User’s height, visible on profile.
profile_bodytype	User’s body type, expressed as a number.
profile_smoke	Whether or not the user smokes. Visible on profile.
profile_drink	User’s drinking status. Visible on profile.
profile_initially_seeking	Type of relationship user is initially seeking, visible on profile.

Table: member_login

pnum	The record’s primary key.
username	User’s username.
password	User’s password (these are encrypted).
loginkey	Login keys are unique to each user, authenticating the user for logout.
notify

Table: am_am_member

id	User id number.
createdon	Date and time the account was created.
createdby	User who created the account.
updatedon	Date and time (to second) the account was last updated.
updatedby	User who updated the account.
admin	Whether or not the user has administrative status in the system.
status	User’s relationship status.
account_type	Type of account.
membership_status	User’s membership status.
ad_source	Tracks site advertising.
profile_number	User’s profile number.
nickname	User’s nickname.
first_name	User’s first name
last_name	User’s last name.
street1	User’s street address.
street2	Second line of user’s street address (if applicable).
city	City listed in user’s address.
zip	Zipcode listed in user’s address.
state	State listed in user’s address.
latitude	User’s location latitude.
longitude	Longitude of user’s location.
country	User’s country of residence.
phone	User’s primary phone number.
work_phone	User’s work phone number .
mobile_phone	User’s mobile phone number.
gender	User’s gender.
dob	User’s date of birth.
profile_caption	User-generated caption, visible on account profile.
profile_ethnicity	User’s self-identified ethnicity, expressed as a number.
profile_weight	User’s weight, visible on profile.
profile_height	User’s height, visible on profile.
profile_bodytype	User’s body type, expressed as a number.
profile_smoke	Whether or not user reports smoking.
profile_drink	Whether or not user reports drinking.
profile_initially_seeking	What the user is initially seeking, expressed as a number.
profile_relationship	User’s relationship status, expressed as a number.
pref_opento	Type of experience the user says he or she is willing to try (or “open to”), listed as numbers.
pref_opento_other	What the user hopes a match will be open to
pref_opento_abstract	User-written statement of what the user is willing to participate in.
pref_turnsmeon	Items that the user says he or she is interested in. Expressed in numbers.
pref_turnsmeon_other	List of things that the user wants a match to be interested in. Expressed in numbers.
pref_turnsmeon_abstract	Written description of the user’s “turn-ons.”
pref_lookingfor	Attributes the user is looking for in a match/dating experience.
pref_lookingfor_other	List of attributes the user hopes a match is looking for.
pref_lookingfor_abstract	User’s description of a preferred match.
main_photo	User’s uploaded photo.
security_question	User’s security question.
security_answer	Answer to user’s security question.

This is a complete list of all of the fields in the MySQL portion of the database. However, several of the fields use numerical codes to indicate a selection from the user. “profile_relationship” specifies the relationship status of the user as follows:

1: “Attached Female Seeking Male”
2: “Attached Male Seeking Female”
3: “Single Male Seeking Female”
4: “Single Female Seeking Male”
5: “Male Seeking Male”
6: “Female Seeking Female”

The “pref_opento” field contains a number that correlates to one of the following:

1: “Threesome”
3: “Being Dominant/Master”
4: “Being Submissive/Slave”
6: “Bondage”
7: “Conventional Sex”
11: “Fetishes”
14: “Nothing Kinky”
15: “One-Night Stands”
17: “Role Playing”
18: “Sex Talk”
19: “Spanking”
21: “Experimenting with Tantric Sex”
22: “Transvestitism”
23: “Experimenting with Sex Toys”
23: “Exploring with Sex Toys”
26: “Aggressiveness”
27: “Blindfolding”
28: “Bubble Bath for 2”
29: “Cuddling & Hugging”
30: “Curious – Domination”
31: “Curious – Submission”
32: “Dressing Up/Lingerie”
33: “Erotic Movies”
34: “Erotic Tickling”
36: “Extended Foreplay/Teasing”
37: “Gentleness”
38: “Good With Your Hands”
39: “Kissing”
40: “Light Kinky Fun”
41: “Likes to be Watched/Exhibitionism”
42: “Likes to Give Oral Sex”
43: “Likes to Receive Oral Sex”
44: “Likes to Go Slow”
45: “Lots of Stamina”
46: “Open to Experimentation”
48: “Sensual Massage”
49: “Sharing Fantasies”
50: “Someone I Can Teach”
51: “Someone Who Can Teach Me”
52: “You Like to Cross Dress”

The “looking for” section also contains a number that correlates to the following:

1: “A Don Juan”
4: “Sense of Humor”
6: “Aggressive/Take Charge Nature”
9: “Average Sex Drive”
10: “Confidence”
11: “Discretion/Secrecy”
12: “Dislikes Routine”
14: “Good Personal Hygiene”
16: “Has a Secret Love Nest”
17: “High Sex Drive”
18: “Imagination”
19: “Likes Routine”
30: “A Professional/Well Groomed”
31: “Stylish/Classy”
32: “Casual Jeans/T-shirt Type”
33: “Tattoos”
34: “Body Piercing”
35: “BBW”
36: “Full Size Body”
37: “Muscular/Fit Body”
38: “Petite Figure”
39: “Slim to Average Body”
40: “Tall Height”
41: “Short Height”
42: “Long Hair”
43: “Short Hair”
44: “Girl Next Door”
45: “Naughty Girl”
46: “Bad Boy”
47: “Boy Next Door”
48: “Creative and Adventurous”
49: “Relaxed and Easy Going”
50: “Hopeless Romantic”
51: “A Father Figure”
52: “Not Possessive”
53: “A Good Listener”
54: “Good Communicator”
55: “Disease Free”
56: “Drug Free”
57: “Casual/Social Drinker”
58: “Seeking a Sugar Baby”
59: “Seeking a Sugar Daddy”
60: “Natural Breasts”
61: “Facial Hair”
62: “Tall, Dark and Handsome”

Datarecovery.com offers computer forensics services, which can help to verify the presence (or non-presence) of an individual’s information in the Ashley Madison leak. Given the nature of this leak, we offer this service exclusively to victims — not to spouses or other individuals. For more information, speak with a computer forensics expert by calling 1-800-237-4200.