In yet another episode of hackers focusing on celebrities' private photos, a porn website has published photos of Miley Cyrus and Kristen Stewart, along with several other celebrities. The criminals had reportedly hacked into their targets' phones and then leaked their private photos to an adult entertainment website.
Images of Miley Cyrus, Kristen Stewart & Tiger Woods "hacked"
Along with Cyrus and Stewart, private photos of Katharine McPhee, Cyrus' ex girlfriend Stella Maxwell, golfer Tiger Woods and his ex-girlfriend Lindsey Vonn have also been published. Their lawyers are working to get these images taken down that have been shared across the internet now, similar to the 2014 celebgate.
"It is an outrageous and despicable invasion of privacy for anyone to steal and illegally publish private intimate photos,” Vonn’s spokesperson said.
"Lindsey will take all necessary and appropriate legal action to protect and enforce her rights and interests. She believes the individuals responsible for hacking her private photos as well as the websites that encourage this detestable conduct should be prosecuted to the fullest extent under the law.”
It is unclear what Vonn’s spokesperson means here by "hacking her private photos," as no information is available yet about how the criminals managed to get their hands on these photos. Was it a phishing scam? Some exploits used? While no details are available at the moment, both Vonn and Woods have used the terms "hacking" in their statements. Woods has even reportedly threatened to sue the websites for hosting his private photos, which were leaked through Vonn's phone as he wasn't personally targeted.
So far the reports by People and the Daily Beast suggest that the latest celebrity nude photos appear to have come from an unidentified hacker who managed to steal private photos and then sell it to the Celeb Jihad website. While some of the celebrities have lawyered up, it is unclear at the moment if law enforcement has been involved.
Earlier in the month, private photos of Anne Hathaway were also leaked. The latest report appears to be the third major such incident after the 2014 iCloud hack that affected Jennifer Lawrence, among others, and the 2016 Fappening 2.0 that saw the photos of Emma Watson along with other female celebrities, leaked on 4chan.
"It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime," Lawrence had said at the time.
Ryan Collins, the hacker behind the 2014 Celebgate, had used a phishing scam to steal login credentials of over a few dozens of iCloud and Gmail account holders, most of them female celebrities. The 36-year-old had pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison. Earlier this year, Edward Majerczyk, a 28-year-old from Chicago, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine months in prison.
