FBI, Apple investigating hacking of iCloud accounts
02 Sep 2014
The FBI and Apple said yesterday they were investigating the apparent hacking of iCloud accounts that allegedly led to the online posting of nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other female stars, NBC News reported.
"We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report,'' Nat Kerris, Apple spokeswoman, told NBC News.
The computer giant however did not explain how the hackers came in possession of the images. According to the FBI it was "aware of the allegations concerning computer intrusions and the unlawful release of material involving high profile individuals, and is addressing the matter."
According to a spokeswoman for Lawrence, the incident was "a flagrant violation of privacy" and said authorities were poised to prosecute anyone who posted "stolen photos" of the Oscar winner.
Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead tweeted that she had long ago deleted the pictures that surfaced of her, while according to Victoria Justice her supposed snaps were fake. Other photos were purported to be nude shots of model Kate Upton, actress Kirsten Dunst and soccer star Hope Solo, but it remained unclear which ones were authentic.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Morning Herald reported that the stolen images of over a 100 celebrities in the nude, including photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst and Kate, were first widely shared on image-based bulletin board 4chan where anyone can post comments and share images. The site has since been blocked.
The newspaper quoted one of two regular users it had approached for creating a guide of sorts to the site as saying, "4chan is a simple image-based bulletin board where anyone can post comments and share images."
The site had boards dedicated to a variety of topics including music, fashion, fitness, video games and science.
However, the most notorious board - and one of the most popular was the "random" or "/b/", which featured graphic imagery of sex and violence.
According to Alex, a 24-year-old student and long-time user, "It's absolute grotesque chaos."
"/b/ is very different from some of the purpose built boards, such as music or video games or world news."
Tama Leaver, a lecturer in internet cultures at Curtin University, described /b/ "an irreverent image board that goes out of its way to shock".
The site devoted to Japanese anime and manga pictures was created in 2003, by Christopher Poole who was in his early teens.
