Celebrities in a pickle after nude pics hacked and circulated

Apple’s iCloud system is being attacked by celebrities as possibly possessing security flaws that have enabled hackers to download private images and then upload these to various websites without the subjects’ permission.

Social media went into a viral frenzy yesterday when what looked like explicit photos of dozens of female celebs began circulating rampantly. Celebs whose nude snaps appeared to be amongst the naughty lot include actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Kirsten Dunst, singer Ariana Grande, and model Kate Upton. And their agents are as angry about it as they are!

Jennifer Lawrence’s agent Liz Mahoney, for example, has threatened legal action against any person who is sharing private pics of her client, and has described the cyber-attack as a “flagrant violation”.

Many of the images, which also include nude snaps of famous athletes, were posted on random image-sharing site 4chan, although the authenticity of a lot of the shots could not be confirmed (a screenshot from the 4chan site can be seen above).

The site describes itself as “a simple image-based bulletin board where anyone can post comments and share images” and it boasts specific segments dedicated to everything from ‘paper craft’ to ‘pornography’.

Not surprisingly, just about every poster on the 4chan site goes under the pseudonym ‘Anonymous’.

This recent hacking of celebrity pics has raised the question of security on image-hosting sites such as iCloud which could easily have seen hackers access accounts simply by guessing passwords.

The debacle comes at a time when Facebook, too, is being criticised for its terms that threaten users’ privacy, where the site has demanded “access” to users’ personal smartphone files such as photographs and contacts in order for those users to be able to download its new Messenger app (ie: no access, no ability to download the new app).

What most people don’t realise is that just about every app contains such terms stipulated in its fine print – basically, the owner of any app or site has the right to access anything it can and wants from your mobile phone once you have accepted its conditions.

That said, have fun cleaning out all the dirty pics on your mobile phone, but realise half of them are probably floating about in cyberspace already!  Antonino Tati