In its first public communication since Segal and Millership took over, Avid Life Media is sharing a social media and radio message with its members — and has announced a new direction and total repositioning of all its brands. 
 
 "A year ago, Avid Life Media was silenced by a devastating, criminal hack that affected our company and some of our members. The company is truly sorry for how people's lives and relationships may have been affected by the criminal theft of personal information. That's why we're charting a new course and making some big changes," says Segal. 
 
 "Like all businesses in today's security reality, Avid Life Media has been investing even more heavily in security enhancements and privacy safeguards to deal with evolving cyber threats over the past year, and that will continue," he adds. Following the criminal hack on the company, Segal says Avid Life Media partnered with Deloitte's cyber security team, one of the world's leading integrated cyber risk management consultants, to implement new and enhanced security safeguards and 24/7 monitoring. The company is also introducing new, secure and discreet payment options. 
 
 "Our new team is committed to taking care of our members and to building on our portfolio of unique and open-minded online dating brands," says Millership, who confirms a total business transformation and rebranding is in the works for Avid Life Media, Ashley Madison and all the company's brands. "Millions of people have continued to connect on our sites during the past year and they deserve a discreet, open-minded community where they can connect with like-minded individuals," he says. 
 
 Due Diligence Journey 
 
 Both Segal and Millership were carefully selected for their unique leadership abilities: Segal for his marketing and communications leadership; and, Millership for his operational and repositioning experience. Millership and Segal each bring more than 20 years' experience in helping companies reposition, evolve and grow. 
 
 New Leadership & Vision Set to Transform Ashley Madison 
 
 When they first were presented with the opportunity to lead Avid Life Media, Segal says they were intrigued enough to embark on an extensive due diligence process. 
 
 "We talked about how we could help modernize Ashley Madison with a more open-minded, adventurous spirit," recalls Segal. "Soon we were deep into a few months of due diligence to discover what challenges the company was facing and if the fundamentals were in place to allow the company to evolve and grow," he says. 
 
 During their due diligence process, the Board mandated a team of independent forensic accounting investigators to review past business practices around bots and the ratio of male and female US members who were active on the site. 
 
 The investigation confirmed for Segal and Millership that bots were no longer in use and verified the authenticity of female members. "My understanding is that bots are widespread in the industry, but they are no longer being used, and will not be used, at Avid Life Media and Ashley Madison," says Millership. The independent report confirms that the company discontinued the practise in North America in 2014 and internationally in 2015, he explains. 
 
 Building the World's Most Open-Minded Dating Community 
 
 "Thousands of new members join Ashley Madison every day from all around the world," says Millership. "With the right investment, innovation and customer care, the brand has promising potential to overcome its current challenges," he says. 
 
 Segal and Millership's ultimate goal is to rebuild Ashley Madison as the world's most open-minded dating community. "We're investing heavily in technology – and we're looking at acquisitions, a total rebranding, new features, partnerships and new ventures," says Millership, adding that the company is in the midst of constructing a new office in Toronto to give its team of 100 employees a completely fresh start. 
 
 "Repositioning Avid Life Media and Ashley Madison is an exciting challenge," says Segal. "We believe Ashley Madison can transform to better reflect modern relationships and operate with open-minded integrity and an adventurous spirit. Our team will continue to share updates and more information over the next few months as we build upon that vision," he says. 
 
 About Avid Life Media 
 
 Avid Life Media is a privately held company that owns and operates many of the world's most open-minded and unique dating brands, including: Ashley Madison, Established Men and Cougar Life. Founded in 2007, the company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. To learn more and follow the transformation, visit ashleymadison.com 
 
 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160705/386008 
 
 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160705/386009 
 
 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/avid-life-media-breaks-its-silence---announces-new-ceo--president---new-leadership-and-vision-set-to-transform-ashley-madison-300293808.html 
 
 SOURCE Avid Life Media ||||| Have you been flirting with a computer program behind your wife’s back? 
 
 "Life is short, have an affair" was the slogan of infidelity website Ashley Madison, which was famously hacked in 2015. 
 
 What they didn't say was that you might be having a strictly online affair with a fake female profile, designed to trick you into entering your credit card details, under the misapprehension that you were chatting with a real woman rather than an algorithm. 
 
 Now Reuters reports that Ashley Madison's parent company Avid is being investigated by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after class action law suits were filed in the United States and Canada on behalf of customers whose details were exposed following the hack, and amid allegations that fake female profiles were used by the site to manipulate users: 
 
 An Ernst & Young report commissioned by Avid and shared with Reuters confirmed that Avid used computer programs, dubbed fembots, that impersonated real women, striking up conversations with paying male customers. Avid shut down the fake profiles in the United States, Canada and Australia in 2014, and by late 2015 in the rest of the world, but some U.S. users had message exchanges with foreign fembots until late in 2015, according to the report. 
 
 Ashley Madison had been planning to IPO before it was royally hacked. You have to imagine that it would have found itself in even hotter water if it had successfully floated on the stock market only to have it later revealed that it had been less than transparent with investors about its true (human) membership numbers. 
 
 The controversial dating site is under new management following the departure of CEO Noel Biderman (who has since been busy trying to clean the internet of references to his past with Ashley Madison), and the site has a brand new look which de-emphasises having an affair and claims it "is about so much more than infidelity." 
 
 New bosses Rob Segal and James Millership tell Reuters that the firm is spending millions on security and privacy improvements. 
 
 But that, of course, is going to be little comfort for those have already been burnt by Ashley Madison - having had their personal information exposed, and in some cases found themselves on the receiving end of blackmail letters or even driven to suicide. 
 
 
 
 The greatest irony of all is that some men have had their lives ruined and privacy invaded, when their chances of having an affair were close to zero, because they were speaking to a computer program rather than a flirting female. 
 
 Further reading:
– Two new executives at cheaters dating site Ashley Madison are offering up a mega-mea culpa for last year's hack-and-leak of user information, but that's likely not going to stem the flow of issues its parent company is now facing, including class-action lawsuits and an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, Reuters reports. CEO Rob Segal and President James Millership have been at the helm of Avid Life Media for three months, notes a Tuesday press release, trying to rebrand and rescue the site after the privacy debacle and the resignation of ex-CEO and self-proclaimed "king of infidelity" Noel Biderman, who Graham Cluley's security site says has "been busy trying to clean the Internet" of his past association with Ashley Madison. "A year ago, Avid Life Media was silenced by a devastating, criminal hack that affected our company and some of our members," Segal says. "The company is truly sorry for how people's lives and relationships may have been affected by the criminal theft of personal information." Some of the "big changes" Segal notes include a partnership with a Deloitte cybersecurity team—whose leader tells Reuters they found "simple backdoors" into the site's servers—to add privacy and security safeguards, as well as discreet ways to pay. And the Ashley Madison site itself has seen subtle changes, including an assertion that the site "today is about so much more than infidelity, it's about all kinds of adult dating." As for the FTC probe, Avid says it doesn't yet know the specifics, but they're likely to partly revolve around multiple suits for the security breach, as well as for allegations of using "fembots" to interact with male users—something security blogger Cluley calls the "greatest irony of all." "Some men have had their lives ruined and privacy invaded, when their chances of having an affair were close to zero, because they were speaking to a computer program rather than a flirting female," he writes. (Are those masks announced earlier this year part of the site's new security changes?)