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On August 31, 2014 almost two hundred pictures were posted on 4chan, and later on: reddit, anon-ib and tumblr. They were allegedly taken through an exploit of iCloud, to which iPhone photos can be automatically synced. The photographs were allegedly sold for bitcoin.

Victims of the exploit were alleged to include Jennifer Lawrence, Jenny McCarthy, Rihanna, Kate Upton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kirsten Dunst, Ariana Grande, and Victoria Justice. Lawrence and Winstead confirmed the authenticity of the photos, while Grande and Justice denied the photos were of them.

Distribution

After their initial release on anon-ib, reddit and 4chan, the photographs were widely circulated online. Attempts made to suppress them were unsuccessful.

Celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton posted the photos on his blog after their release, but shortly took them down and issued an apology, saying he had acted in bad taste.

A major site of activity was on the link sharing website reddit, where a subreddit was created to share the photos and gained 75,000 subscriptions in a single day. Reddit admins were criticized for allowing this to take place in an alleged violation of their anti-doxing rules.

The photos were being passed around privately for at least a couple weeks before their public release on August 31, although the details are unclear. There are claims that many more unreleased photos, including video exists. The Daily Mail cited anonymous posters from 4chan and Deadspin who stated that a ring of hackers, traders, and sellers had been operating for months leading up to the mass release.

Reaction

The photo leak was condemned by The Guardian, as were those who continued to share the photos. Actress Lena Dunham pleaded on Twitter for people not to view the pictures, and that doing so "violat these women over and over again. It's not okay." Actors Seth Rogen and Lucas Neff also spoke out against the hackers and people who posted the pictures.

Shortly after the photos were posted online, an article in Forbes advised people not to use iCloud to store sensitive photos and another gave instructions as to how to turn off iCloud altogether.

The incident has been given many names, including "The Fappening" (a portmanteau of the words "the happening", and "fap"; internet slang for masturbation). and "Celebgate" (a reference to Watergate). Radhika Sanghani, a journalist for The Daily Telegraph, has criticized the usage of terms like "The Fappening" to describe the incident, as she felt that it trivialized the leak and also " light of a very severe situation".

Investigation

The FBI said that it was "aware of the allegations concerning computer intrusions and the unlawful release of material involving high profile individuals, and is addressing the matter." Jennifer Lawrence contacted authorities and her publicist has stated that the authorities will prosecute anyone who posts leaked images of her. Forbes columnist Joseph Steinberg questioned whether the reactions by law enforcement and technology providers indicated that celebrities were being treated differently than ordinary Americans, which, in the case of law enforcement, may be illegal.

Apple said that it is investigating whether a security breach of their iCloud service was responsible for the leaked photographs stating that they "take user privacy very seriously". The security breach may be related to a vulnerability in Apple's Find My iPhone service which allows hackers to run a script which repeatedly guesses user passwords until the correct password is discovered. Apple has since fixed the flaw. Security experts said that the security breach could have been prevented had two-factor authentication been enabled. "In general Apple has been a little late to the game in offering this kind of protection, and doesn't advertise it," said Darien Kindlund, director of threat research at security firm FireEye.

References

1. Landi, Martin (September 2, 2014). "Stars' nude photo attack may have been down to password codes". Irish Independent. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
2. Alexander, Ella (1 September 2014). "4Chan nude photo hacker disappointed by lack of money earned from naked celebrity leaks: 'I really didn't get close to what I was hoping'". The Independent.
3. Arthur, Charles (1 September 2014). "Nude celebrity picture leak looks like phishing or email account hack". The Guardian.
4. "Celeb anger at Apple over hacked photos: Kirsten Dunst leads criticism as company 'actively investigates' claims that hundreds of stars' nude images were stolen from iCloud". 1 September 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
5. McCormick, Rich (1 September 2014). "Reported iCloud hack leaks hundreds of nude celebrity photos". The Verge.
6. Shrivastava, Anshu (1 September 2014). "Celebrities' Leaked Nude Photos: Master-List Printed, Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, Kate Upton, Jennifer Lawrence, Kaley Cuoco, Rihanna, More Names On It". International Business Times.
7. "Nude Jennifer Lawrence photos leaked by hacker who claims to have 'private pictures of 100 A-listers'". The Daily Telegraph. September 1, 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
8. Selby, Jenn (September 1, 2014). "Mary E. Winstead nude photo leak: 'To those looking at photos I took with my husband, hope you feel great about yourselves'". The Independent. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
9. ^ "Ariana Grande Denies Authenticity of Alleged Leaked Nude Photos". Billboard. August 31, 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
10. Jenni, Ryall (31 August 2014). "Social Media Goes Wild Over Massive Celebrity Nude Photo Leak". Mashable.
11. Selby, Jenn (1 September 2014). "Perez Hilton apologises for Jennifer Lawrence naked photo leak". The Independent.
12. Jaworski, Michelle (1 September 2014). "Perez Hilton removes 'Celebgate' photos, calling his post a mistake". Daily Dot.
13. Price, Rob (1 September 2014). "Reddit's privacy rules fail as celebrity nudes spread like wildfire". Daily Dot.
14. http://gawker.com/is-this-4chan-offshoot-the-ground-zero-for-the-leaked-c-1629190208
15. McCormack, David; Chavez, Paul; Szathmary, Zoe (2 September 2014). "New wave of leaks plague celebrities as authorities prove unable to stop spread while some suggest naked photos were passed around users in an online CLUB for months". Mail Online. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
16. Badham, Van (1 September 2014). "If you click on Jennifer Lawrence's naked pictures, you're perpetuating her abuse". The Guardian.
17. Clark, Cindy (1 September 2014). "Lena Dunham asks people not to look at leaked nude photos". USA Today. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
18. Lubitz, Rachel (1 September 2014). "More stars react to the massive celebrity-photo leak". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
19. Nude Photos Of Jennifer Lawrence And Kate Upton Leak: Five Important Lessons For All of Us
20. Staying Safe And How To Disable Apple iCloud
21. Volkert, Zachary (1 September 2014). "The Fappening — Are Naked Jennifer Lawrence Photos Worse For Apple or Feminism?". The Inquisitr.
22. Alfonso III, Fernando (30 August 2014). "Hundreds of alleged celebrity nudes leak on the seediest corners of the Web". Daily Dot.
23. Sanghani, Radhika (02 Sep 2014). "Jennifer Lawrence photo leak: Let's stop calling this hacking 'The Fappening'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 September 2014. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
24. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jennifer-lawrence-other-celebs-pictures-leaked-fbi-addressing-the-matter/
25. "Jennifer Lawrence requests investigation after nude pics leaked online by hacker". Fox News Channel. Associated Press. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
26. Nude Photos Of Jennifer Lawrence And Kate Upton Leak: Five Important Lessons For All of Us
27. ^ http://recode.net/2014/09/01/apple-says-it-is-actively-investigating-celeb-photo-hack/
28. http://thenextweb.com/apple/2014/09/01/this-could-be-the-apple-icloud-flaw-that-led-to-celebrity-photos-being-leaked/

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