Ashley Madison hack pushes US pastor to his death

The Ashley Madison hack continues to cause ripples as a U.S. pastor was forced to his death days after his name was exposed. John Gibson is the third name on the death toll associated with the leak of more than 32 million profiles of the Canada-based site.

In a report by CNN Money, Gibson, 56, took his life only six days after the hacking of the extramarital affair site. His wife, Christi, found the body. Along with her two children, she later on came on air to speak about the incident highlighting the consequences of invasion of privacy online. “It was a moment that life doesn’t prepare you for,” CNN quoted the widow.

“How do you tell your kids that their dad is gone and that he took his own life?"

The pastor talked about the hack in his suicide note. According to Christi: “He talked about depression. He talked about having his name on there, and he said he was just very, very sorry. What we know about him is that he poured his life into other people, and he offered grace and mercy and forgiveness to everyone else, but somehow he couldn’t extend that to himself.” The widow did stress that she was ready to forgive her husband but was saddened to find out that he cannot forgive himself.

Gibson already struggled with depression and addiction previously. The hack added to his worries, which included losing his job. Ashley Madison was launched in 2001 with the purpose of connecting people wanting to have extramarital relationships. On July 12, a message was posted on the staff's screen threatening the company to shut down the site or client information will be leaked. Come July 15, the site was hacked with the “Impact Team” revealing customer emails, names and addresses among others.

More problems ensued after tech news site Gizmodo found that many accounts on the site were fake. Avid Life Media, owner of the company, refuted the analysis after.

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