Lifestyle

Data from the Ashley Madison leak contradicts statement by Finance Minister's wife: Updated

By Staff

Bjarni Benediktsson Minister of Finance registered on Ashley Madison as IceHot1. His wife has claimed they registered together, out of curiosity, but never actually used the account. Data from the leak contradicts this statement. Photo/Ernir Eyjólfsson.

Earlier today Þóra Margrét Baldvinsdóttir announced on Facebook that she and Bjarni Benediktsson, the Minister of Finance, had registred on Ashley Madison in 2008. She explained that the announcement was meant to set the record straight and address rumors which had been circulating about Bjarni having registered on the website, which offered married people the opportunity to find partners for illicit sexual relationships.

Read more: Icelandic Minister of Finance registered on Ashley Madison as IceHot1

Þóra stated that the two had created the account together, out of curiosity, but never accessed the site since then or used it to contact other members.

Statement at odds with data in the leak

Local news site stundin.is now reports that the statement is at odds with data from Ashley Madison database, leaked by hackers. Stundin reports that Bjarni Benediktsson's account was created on September 13 2008, shortly before midnight. Bjarni was a member of parliament at the time, and the chairman of the retail and petroleum distribution company N1.

Stundin reports that the data shows the account has in fact been accessed since it was created. The account was updated three years after it's creation, on October 21 2011 and then again on January 25 2013, shortly after midnight.

According to Stundin the date of birth used by Bjarni when he registered was January 25 1970, when his real birthday is January 26. The answer to the security question is "MR". The junior college Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík, where Bjarni went to school, is commonly referred to as MR. Furthermore, the account was registered using the zip code of Bradenton in Florida, where Bjarni's father, Benedikt Sveinsson, owned a home.

IceHot1: "Im not from the States but do travel quite often"

The account, which was linked to Bjarni‘s email while he was the chairman of N1, bjarni bjarniben@n1.is, had the username IceHot1.

The following description was entered for the username:

"Its about being interested in a nice looking woman, wanting to have an intelligent and fun conversation and good...very good sex. Im not from the States but do travel quite often."

UDPATE:

According to experts the local news site visir.is talked to, the two updates on October 21 2011 and January 25 2013 were automatic updates of roughly 14 million user accounts. According to visir.is the last activity on the account, which was created on September 13 2008 was in October that same year.