In the past two years, online attacks have led to executive casualties at prominent companies like Sony Pictures Entertainment and Target. Now add to the list the chief executive of the company operating the adultery website Ashley Madison, a lesser known but far more salacious victim. 

Avid Life Media, the parent company of Ashley Madison, announced that its chief executive, Noel Biderman, stepped down Friday, more than a month after hackers broke into the company’s computer systems and released data and emails that suggested it engaged in questionable business practices.

The breach of Ashley Madison, an online service that facilitates extramarital affairs, resulted in the leak of personal information attached to more than 30 million accounts — including, apparently, very few real female profiles. Leaked emails also showed that the company may have hacked into the computer networks of its competitors.

Biderman is the latest executive to have left a company — voluntarily or involuntarily — after a network breach. Amy Pascal stepped down as Sony Pictures Entertainment’s co-chairwoman in February after hackers released stolen data. In 2014, Target’s chairman and chief executive, Gregg Steinhafel, stepped down months after a huge breach.

According to a survey by the Ponemon Institute, which tracks data breaches, only 13 percent of senior management said their concern about a data breach was extremely high before the breach at Target. That jumped to 55 percent after the incident.

“There’s less forgiveness,” Larry Ponemon, founder of the Ponemon Institute, said in an interview Friday. “The board is more concerned now than it has ever been with preserving the reputation of a company after a data breach. If the CEO has to leave the company as a result, that’s the cost of doing business.”

A statement from Avid Life Media said Biderman was no longer with the company, effective Friday. “This change is in the best interest of the company and allows us to continue to provide support to our members and dedicated employees,” the statement said. “We are actively adjusting to the attack on our business and members’ privacy by criminals.”