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Reported iCloud Hack Leaks Hundreds of Private Celebrity Photos

swinferno writes with news about the leak of hundreds of private celebrity photos over the weekend. Hundreds of revealing pictures of female celebrities were leaked overnight after being stolen from their private collections. Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, and pop star Ariana Grande were among the celebrities apparently shown in the pictures, which were posted on infamous web forum 4chan. It's unclear how the images were obtained, but anonymous 4chan users said that they were taken from celebrities' iCloud accounts. The accounts are designed to allow iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to synchronize images, settings, calendar information, and other data between devices, but the service has been criticized for being unreliable and confusing. Earlier this year, Jennifer Lawrence herself complained about the service in an interview with MTV.

7 of 336 comments (clear)

  1. Alleged leaker already named by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Pretty good detective work: http://pastebin.com/cwAz9Y2r

  2. Re:Where are these photos? by WhoBeDaPlaya · · Score: 5, Informative

    Reddit : /r/TheFappening http://www.reddit.com/r/TheFap...

  3. Re:Where are these photos? by bluec · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not strictly true, this only happens if a) you sign in to icloud through system preferences or during the mac setup assistant and b) use iPhoto (and possibly iTunes) for your photo management. Apple haven't quite, yet, made it compulsory to use all their crapware if you want to use a mac.

  4. Re:Where are these photos? by SternisheFan · · Score: 5, Informative
    A brute-force program to hack AppleID passwords was recently uploaded to the software-hosting GitHub. The program, appropriately called iBrute, is designed to flood AppleID logons with possible password combinations. The assumption is that the hacker would know the username, often derived from an email address.

    Shortly before the stolen images were announced, the owner of iBrute announced the vulnerability — Find My iPhone did not deny access to brute force methods of figuring out a password. Early this morning, the same iBrute owner announced that the vulnerability has been closed, although there has not yet been confirmation from Apple.

    iBrute is now reportedly locked out. But there is also speculation that the Find My iPhone hack was not solely to blame for all the apparently stolen files. For instance, someone could trick a celebrity user — or the celebrity’s assistant — into revealing enough information to gain access to iCloud backups. Additionally, it’s possible other online services were involved, since some of the images reportedly show celebrities using Android mobile devices.

    http://venturebeat.com/2014/09...

  5. Where are these photos? by luca.masters · · Score: 5, Informative

    Slashdot: Where we care about privacy, unless there's a chance to see a naked girl Pro-tip: There are millions of photos of naked women out there that can be viewed wiithout violating anyone's privacy. Go make use of those if you're in so desperate need.

  6. Re:Where are these photos? by Khyber · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Since when has Apple prided itself or even claimed strict security? "

    Uhh, remember the Macs don't get viruses campaign?

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  7. Re:Where are these photos? by 2ms · · Score: 5, Informative

    What a bunch of nonsense. How do they "really really really" push iPhoto on Macs? It's there and it launches if you don't have photo imports associated with another app instead. I guess you would prefer that Macs come unable to handle photos out of the box?