The privacy commissioner warns of identity theft for Kiwis caught up in Ashley Madison hack.

Kiwis who joined a network for adulterers, and subsequently had their personal details exposed, have no hope of getting the information taken down any time soon.

Privacy Commissioner John Edwards said "not a lot" could be done in taking down information stolen from AshleyMadison.com.

"There will be law enforcement enquiries [internationally]," he said. "I haven't made a call yet as to whether it's something I'll get involved in."

FAIRFAX NZ Privacy Commissioner John Edwards could take action against any Kiwis who republish data stolen from AshleyMadison.com thanks to new cyber bullying laws.

He would be keeping in close contact with international privacy enforcers but suggested nothing very "timely" could be done about the leak.

However, he said there was a real risk of identity theft for New Zealanders.



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Kiwis who think their information may have been stolen, should "take steps to secure their own identity", he said.

"The financial information, the credit card information is authenticated."

"If they have credit cards included in the leak, then they should cancel those credit cards.

"If they've used the same password for that site as other sites, they should change that password where it occurs in combination with their user ID."

"Beyond that, there's not a heck of a lot they can do."

He said he could act against any individual who republished the hacked data, with powers under the new cyber bullying laws introduced last month.

He warned that curious minds who wanted to access the details, including employers, insurers and social media users, could breach privacy laws if they treated the information as accurate.