14 DAY TRIAL // Following the leak of images of female celebrities in different degrees of undress, the FBI started an investigation to identify and catch all the individuals involved in the hacking operation.
The list of stars provided by one of the hackers contains over 100 names of famous women, from actresses and models to singers and athletes; and they all have been robbed of intimate photos stored on Apple’s iCloud.
The FBI has not released any statement with additional details and limited to informing that agents were addressing the matter.
“The FBI is aware of the allegations concerning computer intrusions and the unlawful release of material involving high profile individuals, and is addressing the matter. Any further comment would be inappropriate at this time,” a spokesperson for the Bureau told TMZ on Monday.
Leaked images of celebrities in the nude started to pop up on 4Chan’s /b/ board on Sunday evening, most of the pics showing Jennifer Lawrence in various stances. The actress confirmed through her representative that the images were real.
Other celebrities affected by the incident include Kate Upton, Victoria Justice, Kirsten Dunst, Hope Solo, Krysten Ritter, Yvonne Strahovski, Teresa Palmer, Ariana Grande, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Mckayla Maroney.
Some of them took to Twitter to deny the authenticity of the pics, while others used the microblogging platform to admit they were the real deal.
The hack was not carried out over night, as some of the files were created earlier this year while others have a more recent time stamp. This points to a targeted attack in which the content was harvested over a longer period of time.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead confirmed this theory in a tweet saying that the leaked photos with her had been deleted long ago.
In an anonymous message on 4Chan, the hacker posting the celeb nude pics said that the deed was not a one-man job and that others were involved, too. “There are several other people who were in on it and I needed to count on to make this happened (sic). This is the result of several months of long and hard work by all involved,” the post read, according to The New Zealand Herald.
The FBI should not have too tough a time identifying the hackers since they left clues behind when posting a screenshot of the folders with the image collection; names of network locations and of the HomeGroup were also snapped along with the folders filled with illegally obtained material.