Ashley Madison claims it has added 4 million members to the site since a hack on the adultery dating site revealed the identities of thousands of cheating spouses over the summer.
A rolling count on the homepage claims it has more than 43 million members, up from the 39 million users counted when the site was hit by a group of hackers dubbed the ‘Impact Team’.
The hack was a national scandal for the site, revealing that public figures such as Josh Duggar and Real Housewives of New York star Kristen Taekman’s husband Josh were allegedly registered.
Two suicides, one involving a San Antonio veteran cop and another involving a person in Canada, were also linked to the data dump that revealed names, ages, addresses, phone numbers, credit card details and even sexual fantasies detailed on the site.
Fifteen thousand users were found to have been registered under .gov and .mil email addresses – the official domain names of the American military and government.
And other institutions rocked by the leaks included famed educational institutions like Harvard and Yale, and global bodies such as the Vatican and the UN.
It was also alleged the site had 70,000 fake female profiles used to lure men to pay fees for credits on the site.
Avid Life Media, Ashley Madison’s parent company, has not commented on the hack since an August statement and would not comment on the new numbers, revealed by CNN Money.
Ashley Madison CEO Noel Biderman stepped down a week after the scandal.
Impact Group threatened Avid Life Media for weeks before the hack took place, demanding the website be taken down.
When Ashley Madison refused to be blackmailed, the hackers revealed the users’ information as a way to show them that the site, which promises complete anonymity, ‘failed you and lied to you’.
‘We have explained the fraud, deceit and stupidity of ALM and their members,’ the group wrote in a statement.
‘Now everyone gets to see their data.’
‘Find yourself in here? 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.’
In it’s last public statement Ashley Madison said the site was ‘growing’ despite the data dump and claimed more than 87,000 women had signed up just two weeks after the scandal.
It also claimed women sent more than 2.8 million messages that same week on the site.
Avid Life currently faces a number of class-action lawsuits, several asking for nearly a billion dollars in damages, from customers who said the site failed to ensure their identities were protected.
