Something that created more than a buzz on the Internet over the weekend gone by was the fact that there were private and personal photos of more than 100 actresses being shown first on 4chan and then across other several other sites. Jennifer Lawrence, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande and Kirsten Dunst are some of the actresses whose pictures were posted amongst many others and the source was cited as being Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iCloud.
Having an iCloud account is a popular fad amongst celebrities and although the source is yet to be established, it has been stated that these accounts are so designed that they allow access to users of iPhone, iPad and Mac. Courtesy of the inclusion of software package named ‘Fine my iPhone’ it has been Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s strategy to unite all the devices under iCloud service and enable users to synchronize data like images and settings. On its part, Apple spokesperson Natalie Kerris has said –
“We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report.”
What the company has done so far is to collaborate with the FBI and thoroughly investigate the intrusion of privacy and releasing of unlawful material. As for Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), it has fixed the particular software that might have been the Achilles Heel but what remains to be seen is whether the breach occurred in iCloud security or individual accounts of the celebrities.
Another insight into the incident was provided by Clifford Neuman, Director, University of Southern California, when he said –
“The data are leaving the devices that are in your possession and are now being stored on a server elsewhere. For most things, that’s probably a good thing but for things that are sensitive, that’s a problem.”
This explains why pictures of Mary Elizabeth Winstead that had been posted were old and out-dated and had been long since deleted from her iPhone. It also reflects on the trouble taken by hackers to dig information and use it to blackmail the subjects for bitcoin and financial gains.
That said, it is also important to take precautions and this entails undergoing Two-Factor Authentication which has been offered by Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) as a security measure.
This article has been written by Vinita Basu.
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