, 4Chan Exposes iCloud Vulnerability: Cloud Hangs Over Apple, ‘Will Security Controversy Sway iPhone 6 Sales?’. In a first of its kind nude photo hack, more than 100 celebrities have had their iCloud accounts compromised and a hacker has allegedly stolen private photos from the Apple storage service to post them online. The Guardian reported, “On Sunday, a user on 4chan made good on a promise made several days ago and leaked nude and otherwise revealing photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Lea Michele, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst, Hope Solo and other famous young women.” But Actresses Ariana Grande and Victoria Justice say their hacked photos are fake. A masterlist of the iCloud celebrity hack victims include Mary Kate Olsen, Vanessa Hudgens Selena Gomez, and Winona Ryder.
"This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence," said Jennifer’s publicist, who was a victim of the iCloud hack. To make it worse, social media users on Twitter and similar sites are sharing these risque’ pictures of models and actresses.
Some of the major names in Hollywood and in the fashion industry are on the hacker’s list of stolen photos. However, some celebs have denied the genuineness of their photos online, suggesting the use of methods like morphing or changing image details. While hacking personal accounts to obtain personal photos of celebs is expected and not a novel idea as was the case in Paris Hilton’s SideKick, the focus on iCloud and its Photo streaming safety is important. The incident has raised safety concerns over iCloud and similar apps like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.
Some reports are saying that some of the private photos were taken by another person and that most people wouldn’t have 60 selfie’s stored on their computer or on iCloud. Mashable posted some ways to protect your accounts on iCloud and said at the current time there is no real iCloud threat unless a wider breach is consider:
- Using secure, unique passwords on their accounts and devices
- Using two-factor authentication when available
- Enabling locks and passwords on computers and phone accounts
- Running the latest version of an operating system
While taking personal or private photos and putting them online or on the computer is not a good idea to begin with, tech experts say that hackers will try to make more attempts to steal private information and pictures. Apple will release a statement on the ‘biggest celebrity nude hack’ roiling Hollywood, but iCloud and other cloud systems are in a developing stage and has its vulnerabilities.
With the release of Apple’s new flagship smartphone, the iPhone 6 on the way, the new iCloud security concerns may cause some buzz over the successful sale of iPhone 6.
