We’re sure you’ve seen the above image by now. In recent days, an apparent Apple iCloud hack has seen numerous A-list celebrities have naked pictures and videos leaked all over the internet – stemming from popular image board website 4chan. Some people seem to think they may have even found the original perpetrator in this case.
Apple has now come to their own defence, claiming that it was not in fact an iCloud ‘leak’ but these celebrities have had their personal accounts hacked individually. Apples Natalie Kerris explained:
“We wanted to provide an update to our investigation into the theft of photos of certain celebrities. When we learned of the theft, we were outraged and immediately mobilized Apple’s engineers to discover the source. Our customers’ privacy and security are of utmost importance to us. After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet. None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved.
To protect against this type of attack, we advise all users to always use a strong password and enable two-step verification. Both of these are addressed on our website at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4232.” Business Wire
So although technically not a leak, Apple are claiming that these stars have fallen victim to “social engineering”. Although this is quite possibly true, Apple has already had some serious damage dealt to their reputation surrounding iCloud as a whole since this story surfaced just a few short days ago.
Moral of the story once again? If you’re going to take these kinds of photos, don’t store them anywhere on, at or near the internet!
Stay tuned to eTeknix for more information as it develops.
Image courtesy of 4chan
