Former Ashley Madison CTO 'threatens security blogger with libel action'

Investigative crime journo Brian Krebs says he has received a threatening letter from a lawyer representing Ashley Madison's ex-CTO Raja Bhatia. The letter, we're told, accuses the pro-blogger of libeling the former exec in an online article. For legal reasons, we cannot at this time repeat Krebs' specific allegations against …

[A Non e-mouse]

Allegations

The allegations are detailed on Ars Technica.

[Pascal Monett]

He "linked to a sample of the Nerve.com database"

Seems like this case is already over.

Krebs said Bhatia hacked them based on published data. Bhatia is trying to pussyfoot around and redefine terms, which is something judges rarely like.

This paragraph is particularly damning :

The authenticity of the database portion of the dump seems at this point beyond doubt, thanks to the widespread confirmations by users of the site. The letter from the lawyer implicitly confirms that the leaked e-mails are authentic, as it makes reference to parts of the quoted e-mail that Krebs didn't include in his report.

The letter from the lawyer implicitly confirms that the leaked e-mails are authentic.

Bhatia is screwed. Twice.

And that's a good thing.

[msknight]

*sucks air through teeth*

This sounds like its going to get messy.

[Gordon 10]

It was white hat

Honest gov would I lie to you? It was a bit of pro bono pen testing.

If it gets that far I would expect Bhatia to argue over the use of the work hack and the validity of the AM mails that Krebs "found" on the Internet.

Which could lead to the interesting case where a judge rules on the validity of the AM data dumps.

[Schlimnitz]

Don't really understand this

He's arguing that he didn't really do what he said he did in his email?

[Anonymous Coward]

So....

...is the libellous bit saying that it's a good idea to retain data even when you've paid for it to be deleted?

[Miss Config]

If you don't know whether to laugh or cry, then just laugh. Like the joke in the current Private Eye showing two women walking past their gym :

Woman 1 : OMG! My Ashley Madison details were hacked !

Woman 2 : You poor thing, honestly you just cannot trust anyone these days !

[disgruntled yank]

at a glance

Avid Life Media appears to be an anagram of Defile Maid Via.

[disgruntled yank]

Via what?

Well, Ashley Madison is an anagram for "Healy Admission" (or "Haley Admission", as you prefer).

[Wzrd1]

In short, the ex-officer wants to protect himself

Via suing anyone who reveals malfeasance and try to pay for the incompetence with that meager earnings, while also attempting to suppress those claims.

Yeah, it isn't going to end well for that former corporate officer.

But, does indicate a potential lead on the criminal investigation.