More than 300 people registered with a popular Vancouver-based online dating website may have had their personal data compromised after the website was hacked.
Markus Frind, CEO of Plenty of Fish, said plentyoffish.com was hacked Jan. 18 in what he described as an "incredibly well planned and sophisticated attack."
"We are aware from our logs that 345 accounts were successfully exported," wrote Frind in his personal blog Monday afternoon.
The hackers then attempted to extort employment and money from Frind in exchange for the information, said Frind.
The breach was sealed within minutes, said Frind, who identified the alleged hacker as an Argentinian man named Chris Russo.
As retaliation, Frind contacted Russo’s mother.
"I just get pissed off and start explaining how I’m going to sue them out of existence if the data comes out," he said. "They are trying to extort us . . . . At this point I did the only logical thing; I emailed his mother."
In a reply posted on Frind’s blog, Russo denied extorting Frind: "I never extorted you at all. I reported you a bug. Your people asked me what to do now, and asked me for an action plan, and a price."
Frind said Plenty of Fish had since reset user passwords. The company also plans to initiate an external security audit.
Frind runs the free dating website, which boasts 145 million visitors a month, out of an office in Coal Harbour.
In a 2009 interview, Frind said the website earns about $10-million a year in ad revenue.
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