What happened during the Adult Friend Finder hack incident?

In October 2016, Adult Friend Finder, a high-profile online dating website designed for casual sexual encounters and hookups, experienced a massive data breach. During this cyberattack, the personal information of approximately 412 million accounts—a figure more than ten times higher than the Ashley Madison hack—was compromised. The leaked data included email addresses, passwords, account names, and other sensitive details spanning over two decades’ worth of user sign-ups. This event exposed users to potential blackmail and privacy invasions given the nature of the platform's service. Adult Friend Finder's parent company, FriendFinder Networks, faced intense scrutiny for their inadequate security measures which failed to protect user information.