Celebrity Photo Leak Fappening Computers With Nude Pictures Seized By FBI
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), they have found the source of the ‘nude’ celebrity leaks that had flooded the internet last year to a 30-year-old Chicago man who lives with his parents. The investigation led to a doubtful activity at the IP address of one Emilio Herrera in Chicago on the south side of the city last October.
Gawker has published an unsealed search warrant, and related affidavit, about the FBI investigation into the event. Seized from the property were several computers, a Kindle tablet, a cell phone and many storage devices.
The affidavit identifies eight celebrities by their initials only. Other hacked accounts belonged to other celebrities, models and their friends and families, the affidavit said. Hollywood celebs like Jennifer Lawrence, Amber Heard, Abigail Spencer, Christina Hendricks, Hope Solo, Jennette McCurdy, Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick, Emily Browning were cited by following initials in the affidavit report: ‘J.L, A.H, A.S, C.H., H.S., J.M., O.W., A.K., and E.B.’
Josh Sadowsky, Special Agent of the FBI’s Cybercrimes Unit, claimed in the affidavit that an IP address linked to Emilio Herrera’s home “was used to access approximately 572 unique iCloud accounts”, between 31 May 2013, and 31 August 2014.
According to the FBI, the files reveal that the accounts were not targeted just once, but, on average, six times each. The computer’s address was also used in 5,000 attempts to reset 1,987 other iCloud passwords, according to NBC.
Of the two stars who spoke to the FBI, of which one celebrity “who has appeared in several movies and TV shows,” learned she was a victim of the leaks through the news media, the document says.
Similarly, another star “who has appeared in several movies,” told the FBI “some of the photos were sent to her fiance, others were never sent and only stored on her phone.”
Laura Eimiller, FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles said no charges have been filed against Herrera. The lack of charges may point out that the computer’s owner could be a victim, too, said Bill Kresse, a cybersecurity expert at Governors State University in University Park, Illinois. He also said that a computer or its IP address can be hijacked from anywhere in the world.
The raid is part of an continuing investigation into finding out how nude and sexually explicit photos of celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, whose initials are not in the affidavit were stolen and posted without consent.
Th vulnerabilities of cloud using a technology often used to store personal information on the internet was highlighted during the last summer’s scandal. In September, Apple said its engineers had ascertained that hackers breached individual accounts and did not obtain general access to the company’s services.
