In the wake of the Ashley Madison hack — which released the names, home addresses, sexual fantasies and credit card information of more than 33 million users — Toronto police claim two individuals associated with the leak committed suicide, reported BBC News.
Toronto police have been quiet in terms of releasing any information about the deaths, although they have released a direct statement towards the hackers, who call themselves The Impact Team.
"I want to make it very clear to you, your actions are illegal," said Bryce Evans, staff superintendent of the Toronto police. "We will not be tolerating them. This is your wake-up call."
"This hack is one of the largest data breaches in the world," he said. "This is affecting all of us. The social impact behind this leak, we're talking about families, we're talking about children, we're talking about wives, their male partners."
Last week, Brian Krebs, a security analyst at Krebson Security, released a statement predicting this outcome.
"There's a very real chance that people are going to overreact," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if we saw people taking their lives because of this."
Since the hack, many of the users have been the target of criminals trying to extort them, reported Gawker.
Avid Life Media, Ashley Madison's parent company, is currently offering a $500,000 CAD reward for any information that leads to the arrest of the hackers, reported the Guardian.
