14 DAY TRIAL // A woman who allegedly hacked Selena Gomez, copied her personal files, and then leaked them to the web was charged in Los Angeles County, facing a maximum sentence of nine years and eight months if found guilty.
Susan Atrach of Ridgefield Park, N.J. allegedly breached the email accounts of actress/singer Selena Gomez and her associate, stealing their data and then publishing it online without authorization.
The woman was charged with five felony counts of identity theft; five felony counts of accessing and using computer data to commit fraud or to control or obtain money, property or data; and one felony count of accessing and using computer data or taking supporting documentation without permission, according to a press release published by the Los Angeles County District of Attorney’s Office.
The Fappening saga
The breaches happened repeatedly between June 2015 and February 2016, according to official documents. The prosecutor is expected to set a bail of $250,000.
Hacking celebrities and stealing their files has become a hobby for cybercriminals across the world, and the famous Fappening saga was the tip of the iceberg in terms of leaks. Hackers managed to breach the cloud accounts of a significant number of singers and actresses, including stars like Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Miley Cyrus, and others, extracting X-rated photos and videos and then posting them online.
Many of the breaches were based on phishing scams that tricked account owners into handing over credentials by mimicking the look of a genuine website, including of Apple’s iCloud login page. In most of the cases, the content was uploaded to the cloud as a result of the default iPhone configuration, which automatically stores data in iCloud for backing up purposes.
Selena Gomez’s hacker is expected to be arraigned on August 27, and the case will remain under investigation, according to local authorities.