After hearing about the icloud hacking earlier this month you would think Apple would fix the situation within a day to prevent other incidences. However, on Saturday a whole new round of images appeared on the Internet. Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Amber Heard, Hayden Panettiere, Lake Bell, Kate Bosworth, Emily Ratajkowski, Jenny McCarthy, Gabrielle Union, and more were exposed. Private clips of Aubrey Plaza and Jennifer Lawrence were also released.
There is now reason to believe that the same hackers who released private photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Victoria Justice and McKayla Maroney were directly involved with the new hacking. Although the FBI is already investigating, it is surprising to many that they haven’t already figured out who it was as well as letting it happen again. Apple has denied its cloud storage system was breached. Apple insists that it was a “targeted attack” according to many pop culture news sources.
Many celebrities have spoken out on the incident, all disappointed and shocked. Union tells TMZ, “It has come to our attention that our private moments, that were shared and deleted solely between my husband and myself, have been leaked by some vultures. I can’t help but to be reminded that since the dawn of time women and children, specifically women of color, have been victimized, and the power over their own bodies taken from them. These atrocities against women and children continue worldwide.”
HOW?
The main question that many people are asking is, “how could this happen?” TIME spoke with Bob Stasio, Vice president of Threat Intelligence at CyberIQ services. Stasio explained that by using the “I forgot my password” option, hackers could easily guess the answers to security questions being that celebrity lives are so publicized.
Many people, including the victims of the hacking, are probably wondering who pulled this off. The hackers have not been found yet, however, it’s not impossible. The FBI has most likely not focused on this event. Phil Lieberman, President of Lieberman Software Corporation tells TIME, “Pictures of celebrities don’t rise to the level of kidnapping, murders or serious violent crimes. They’re seen more as economic crimes or invasions of privacy, which are serious, but go on a little slower track.”
A concerning aspect to this whole situation is that it can, and probably will happen again. It is very likely that many photos have not been released yet. Although not all photos are confirmed to be real, many celebrity victims are speaking out and even apologizing to their fans:
-On Instagram actress Megan Good stated “I’m definitely in shock… saddened for every one who is experiencing this… but I choose not to give the person responsible my power… At the end of the day, we all know these pictures were for my husband. And at the end of the day evidently we all know how I feel about my titties. That’s all I’ve got folks. Oh yeah and for everyone who’s reposting the leaked nudes? You should be ashamed of yourself… You have a blessed day now.”
– Kim Kardashion’s statement to her first attack earlier this month was “”I think it’s a wake-up call for people to make sure they have every privacy setting. It seems like there are a lot of people that love to spend their time hacking peoples’ information and that’s just a scary thing.”
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