Experts now believe that a massive leak of celebrity nude photos taken with smartphones may have been caused by Apple iCloud.
The security flaw comes from the auto-update from to iCloud. A number of intimate photos of female celebrities, many of which they believed to have been deleted, were actually uploaded to the Apple backup service. But from there, it isn’t clear what might have occurred.
All that is known for sure is that a thread popped up on 4Chan with the leaked photos that included hundreds of images of female celebs, hacked by someone who was taking donations for the leak through BitCoin.
This more or less makes whoever hacked them – and whoever paid for them – some serious scumbags. But the question remains: what was the flaw that allowed the hack in the first place?
The best theory so far has been offered by The Next Web. According to them, a Python script became available a week ago that allowed users to brute force their way through password stops. This is done through the Find My iPhone feature.
Apple is investigating this issue, and those who have seen leaks are currently looking at legal options. Hacking is illegal, and in many places the release of sexual material without consent is considered a sexual crime. Whoever let out the photos is facing more than potential digital charges…they could be charged as sex offenders.
Not all of the photos are real, however. Some are Photoshopped, either obviously or allegedly. Others are clearly real, and a number of celebs have come forward confirming that is the case while condemning the leak.
Either way, Apple is already facing some serious backlash. The security flaw that allowed this to happen has shown the way private content is fair game, thanks to software settings that automatically gather files, whether you want them to, or not.
It shows a desperate need for greater foresight, and a more open policy towards changing settings that come along with updates. Companies are so eager to gain users that they use shady methods that autoenroll them, and this is the perfect example of what can go wrong.
As for those who are downloading the images? Curiosity isn’t an excuse. Porn is one thing; those women chose to show their bodies and to do acts on camera. These leaks are not the same thing. Those images were not meant for the public, and it is a sick violation of privacy that effectively turns the women involved into meat.
Source: The Next Web, Guardian, Recode
