Earlier this week, hackers released millions of records of people who had subscribed to the “Ashley Madison” web site, a meeting place for people seeking extra-marital affairs. Given that there were around 36 million individual accounts leaked, it is hardly surprising (and hardly newsworthy) to learn that some postal employees may have been members. What is surprising, and quite newsworthy, is that 52 of them apparently used their official @USPS.GOV email addresses to sign up for the site!

According to an analysis of individual email domains found in the Ashley Madison files, over 15,000 *.gov or *.mil government email addresses were registered. The majority appear to be from military (.mil) domains. The federal civilian agency with the most registrations is the Veteran’s Administration with 104, followed by the Bureau of Prisons with 88. Then comes the US Postal Service, with 52. That means the USPS beat out the Department of Homeland Security (45) and, cue drum roll: The White House! (44).

Reuters reports that the USPS is taking the news very seriously:

The U.S. Postal Service and its internal watchdog plan to review whether or not some of the agency’s employees may have violated federal policies by using their government email on the infidelity website Ashley Madison. “We are looking into this matter and will follow our existing administrative process if misconduct is identified,” U.S. Postal Service spokesman Dave Partenheimer said in a statement.

Source: U.S. Postal Service to review government email use for infidelity site | Reuters