14 DAY TRIAL // More names of actresses and female athletes have emerged in an investigation regarding the hacking of celebrity email accounts and theft of intimate photos.
According to TMZ, Oscar winner Natalie Portman, 2010 gold medalist skier Lindsey Vonn and 2004 Olympic all-around gymnastics champion Carly Patterson are amongst the latest confirmed victims of the hacking ring.
The women join a long list of celebrities whose email accounts and electronic devices were broken into by hackers in search of risque photos.
Stars targeted by this group include Vanessa Hudgens, Ali Larter, Busy Philipps, Scarlett Johansson, Miley Cyrus, Jessica Alba, Addison Timlin and Renee Olstead.
Glee's Dianna Agron and an unnamed 17-year-old actress are also on the list, TMZ claims. The FBI is believed to know the identity of the ringleader, but no arrest has been executed.
The official investigation became public last week when Vanessa Hudgens told the FBI about how hackers broke into her Gmail account and leaked her nude photos onto the Internet.
In related news, the French blogger who claims to have obtained Hudgens' last batch of photos from a hacker and posted them online said he is prepared to cooperate with the authorities.
The exact motives of the hackers are unknown, but rumor has it they did for recognition from their peers rather than monetary gain.
This incident sounds remarkably similar to another hacking operation uncovered last year where tens of artists had unreleased songs stolen from their computers.
Several people were arrested in Germany in connection with those breaches, but according to reports they were part of a much larger community of hackers that competed amongst each other.
R&B singer Usher is believed to have cancelled the release of an already produced album in 2009 because the songs on it had already leaked onto the Internet, while other artists had to rush releases because of the group's actions.