New wave of leaks target more celebrities as authorities prove unable to stop spread as it emerges naked photos may have been passed around online club for MONTHS
- More 'nude' photos of celebrities have been leaked online, it emerged today
- They are alleged to feature stars Jessica Brown Findlay and Aubrey Plaza
- Video reportedly showing actress Jennifer Lawrence has also been leaked
- FBI said it is addressing allegations that stars' online accounts were hacked
- Reddit users have discussed supposed release of previously unseen images
- Allegations the leak is product of an 'underground celeb n00d-trading ring'
- Last night, Apple finally admitted it has launched investigation into the hack
- Claims flaw in iCloud's 'Find My iPhone' function could have helped hacker
A new wave of 'nude' celebrity photos have been leaked online amid claims the graphic images may have been passed around an online club for months.
The previously unseen pictures are alleged to feature Parks and Recreation actress Aubrey Plaza, Downton Abbey star Jessica Brown Findlay and American Idol Season 12 contestant Tenna Torres.
A video, reportedly showing American actress Jennifer Lawrence, has also been leaked online. Brown Findlay also allegedly features in a video.
It follows the publication of naked photos of Lawrence and '100 other celebrities', including supermodel Kate Upton and actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, on Sunday night.
The FBI said yesterday it was addressing allegations that the hacker broke into stars' online accounts, before stealing their personal images and publishing them on 4chan, the anonymous image-sharing forum. However, it remains powerless to stop the continued spread of photos.
Last night, Reddit
users took to a special subsection of the social networking site
devoted to the leaks, called Fappening, to discuss the supposed release
of a new wave of naked images.
Scroll down for video
Leak: A new wave of 'naked' celebrity pictures
have been leaked online, including ones allegedly featuring Jessica
Brown Findlay (right). A video, reportedly showing Jennifer Lawrence
(left), has also been leaked online
Affected: The previously unseen pictures are
alleged to include snaps of Parks and Recreation actress Aubrey Plaza
(left) and American Idol Season 12 contestant Tenna Torres (right)
'Video': A series of X-rated videos of
24-year-old Findlay, who played Lady Sybil Crawley in the drama Downton
Abbey (pictured), have also been leaked. A spokesman for the actress has
confirmed that the videos are of her
Indeed, the internet is awash with
speculation about the source of the leak. According to one anonymous 4chan poster, the
release of nude photographs of celebrities was the product of an
‘underground celeb n00d-trading ring'.
The poster claimed
the ring had been in operation for months and posters would trade or
sell the photos they retrieved between each other.
Another poster, who claims to have been involved, wrote on AnonIB that the hacking had been ‘several months’ in the making
and the nude photos were the result of ‘several months of long and hard
work by all involved.’
Leak: A new wave of 'naked' celebrity pictures
have been leaked online, including ones allegedly featuring Jessica
Brown Findlay (right). A video, reportedly showing Jennifer Lawrence
(left), has also been leaked online
Affected: The previously unseen pictures are
alleged to include snaps of Parks and Recreation actress Aubrey Plaza
(left) and American Idol Season 12 contestant Tenna Torres (right)
'Video': A series of X-rated videos of
24-year-old Findlay, who played Lady Sybil Crawley in the drama Downton
Abbey (pictured), have also been leaked. A spokesman for the actress has
confirmed that the videos are of her
More...
Meanwhile, one person claiming responsibility for the leak has claimed online to have a sex
video of Lawrence and is reportedly accepting Paypal donations for the
video.
‘I know no one
will believe me, but i have a short lawrence video,’ the hacker wrote.
‘Is way too short, a little over 2 minutes and you only get to see her
boobs.
‘Anyways, if somebody wants it let me
know how i can upload it anonymously (i dont want the FBI over me, and
you dont wanna know how I got this video.)’.
Hacked: It follows the publication of naked
photos of Lawrence and '100 other celebrities', including supermodel
Kate Upton (pictured) and actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, on Sunday
night
Hacked? A flaw in the 'Find My iPhone' function
(right) of Apple's iCloud service (left) may have helped the anonymous
hacker to steal nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and '100 other
celebrities', it yesterday emerged
The new wave of leaked photos also includes a series of X-rated videos of 24-year-old Findlay,
who played Lady Sybil Crawley in the drama
Downton Abbey.
A
spokesman for the actress has confirmed that the videos are of her but said Jessica
is ‘not making any comment because it’s a criminal investigation’.
Last night, Apple finally admitted that it is 'actively investigating' claims that a flaw in the
'Find My iPhone' function of its iCloud service may have helped the hacker
to steal the naked images.
'We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report,' Apple spokeswoman Nat Kerris told MailOnline.
But the tech giant could not say how the
alleged breach occurred and failed to offer any guarantee to its hundreds
of millions of customers worldwide that the service is safe to use. Meanwhile, it quietly issued a
'patch', or fix, for the alleged 'Find My iPhone' bug.
One of the women named as an alleged victim -
but who has not had any of her supposedly nude photos leaked - was Cara
Delevingne (left). The hacker also claimed to have posted nude images of
Kirsten Dunst (right)
Sarcastic: The Spiderman star tweeted 'Thank you
iCloud' along with icons representing a slice of pizza and a pile of
poo on Monday, the day after naked photos of the star were published
online
Yesterday, Kirsten Dunst
became the
first celebrity to publicly criticize Apple when she posted a
sarcastic message on Twitter. The Spiderman star tweeted 'Thank you
iCloud', the day after naked photos of her were published online.
It is unknown how large the cache of 'nude' celebrity photos is, but it reportedly also includes images of Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Cara Delevingne, Ariana Grande and Victoria Justice.
An online list posted by the hacker on Sunday evening named a staggering 101 celebrities.
Lawrence,
a three-time Oscar nominee who won for her role in Silver Linings
Playbook, contacted authorities after the images began appearing Sunday.
'This
is a flagrant violation of privacy,' Lawrence's publicist Liz Mahoney
wrote in a statement. 'The authorities have been contacted and will
prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.'
Hacked: Mary Elizabeth Winstead tweeted that
nude photographs of her were taken with her husband 'years ago in the
privacy of our home'
The hacking victim also offered support for other celebrities whose nude photos were leaked
Meanwhile, other celebrities, including singer Ariana Grande
and Nickelodeon star Victoria Justice, quickly denounced the images as fake.
Many other celebrities are yet to see any 'nude' photos appear online.
Celebrity
blogger Perez Hilton yesterday apologised on Twitter for posting some
of the naked photos of Lawrence on his blog, saying he feels 'awful'.
Hilton, who has since
deleted the photos from the site, told his followers: 'I acted in haste
just to get the post up and didn't really think things through. I'm
sorry.'
He
added: 'Upon further reflection and just sitting with my actions, I
don't feel comfortable even keeping the censored photos up. I am
removing them.'
Some of
the photos date back years and one confirmed victim, Winstead,
expressed her shock that someone was able to uncover images ‘deleted
long ago.’
Nickelodeon star Victoria Justice wrote on
Twitter that her image was faked. She tweeted, 'These so called nudes of
me are FAKE people. Let me nip this in the bud right now. *pun
intended*'
Mysterious: A spokesman denied that nude
photographs of Ariana Grande (left) were published. Hillary Duff was
named as an alleged victim, though her apparently 'nude' photos have not
appeared online
‘To
those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the
privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves,’ she posted
on Twitter.
Winstead, who starred in Final
Destination 3 and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, wrote that she
thought the images had been destroyed.
‘Knowing those photos were deleted long ago, I can only imagine the creepy effort that went into this,’ she wrote.
Hacked: It follows the publication of naked
photos of Lawrence and '100 other celebrities', including supermodel
Kate Upton (pictured) and actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, on Sunday
night
Hacked? A flaw in the 'Find My iPhone' function
(right) of Apple's iCloud service (left) may have helped the anonymous
hacker to steal nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and '100 other
celebrities', it yesterday emerged
One of the women named as an alleged victim -
but who has not had any of her supposedly nude photos leaked - was Cara
Delevingne (left). The hacker also claimed to have posted nude images of
Kirsten Dunst (right)
Sarcastic: The Spiderman star tweeted 'Thank you
iCloud' along with icons representing a slice of pizza and a pile of
poo on Monday, the day after naked photos of the star were published
online
Hacked: Mary Elizabeth Winstead tweeted that
nude photographs of her were taken with her husband 'years ago in the
privacy of our home'
The hacking victim also offered support for other celebrities whose nude photos were leaked
Meanwhile, other celebrities, including singer Ariana Grande and Nickelodeon star Victoria Justice, quickly denounced the images as fake.
Many other celebrities are yet to see any 'nude' photos appear online.
Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton yesterday apologised on Twitter for posting some of the naked photos of Lawrence on his blog, saying he feels 'awful'.
Hilton, who has since deleted the photos from the site, told his followers: 'I acted in haste just to get the post up and didn't really think things through. I'm sorry.'
He added: 'Upon further reflection and just sitting with my actions, I don't feel comfortable even keeping the censored photos up. I am removing them.'
Some of the photos date back years and one confirmed victim, Winstead, expressed her shock that someone was able to uncover images ‘deleted long ago.’
Nickelodeon star Victoria Justice wrote on
Twitter that her image was faked. She tweeted, 'These so called nudes of
me are FAKE people. Let me nip this in the bud right now. *pun
intended*'
Mysterious: A spokesman denied that nude
photographs of Ariana Grande (left) were published. Hillary Duff was
named as an alleged victim, though her apparently 'nude' photos have not
appeared online
WHAT IS 4CHAN?
4Chan is an image-based forum where users can post photos and videos anonymously, as well as comment on others' posts.
Registration is not required, nor possible.
The site is split into various boards, each with their own specific content and guidelines.
These include content on music, photography, gaming, comics, fashion and images of celebrities, such as Jennifer Lawrence.
Its
main board, called 'Random', features minimal rules on what can be
posted. It is often where controversial images and videos are uploaded
by users.
When it launched in 2003, the site was used to post photos and discuss Japanese anime.
However, it quickly expanded, and is now linked to various internet subcultures and activism.
It has also been linked to a number of high-profile hacks.
In
2006, users of 4chan and other websites 'raided' American white
nationalist Hal Turner by launching multiple attacks and prank calling
his phone-in radio show.
Meanwhile,
in 2008, the Yahoo email account of Sarah Palin was hacked by an
anonymous 4chan user, before posting her password and screenshots on
Wikileaks.
This followed criticism of Palin supposedly using private email accounts for governmental work.
And in May 2009, members of the site attacked YouTube, posting pornographic videos on the site
The metadata on other photos - including those of model Kate Upton - suggests they were taken more recently.
The
FBI said it was '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,' spokeswoman Laura Eimiller wrote in a statement.
The
FBI has investigated previous leaks of nude celebrity images, including
leaks involving Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis, Christina Aguilera and
footage of television sports reporter Erin Andrews in a Tennessee hotel
room. Those cases resulted in convictions.
Some
cybersecurity experts speculated that this time, hackers may have obtained a cache
of private celebrity images by exploiting weaknesses in an online
image-storing platform.
'It
is important for celebrities and the general public to remember that
images and data no longer just reside on the device that captured it,'
security researcher Ken Westin wrote in a blog post Monday.
'Once
images and other data are uploaded to the cloud, it becomes much more
difficult to control who has access to it, even if we think it is
private.'
Private
information and images of celebrities are frequent targets for hackers.
Last year, a site posted credit reports, Social Security numbers and
other financial info on celebrities, including Jay Z and his wife
Beyonce, Mel Gibson, Ashton Kutcher and many others.
Johansson,
Kunis and Aguilera were hacked by a Florida man, Christopher Chaney,
who used publicly available information to hack into the email accounts
of more than 50 people in the entertainment industry.
'I
have been truly humiliated and embarrassed,' Johansson said in a
tearful videotaped statement played in court at Chaney's sentencing in
December 2012.
'That
feeling of security can never be given back and there is no compensation
that can restore the feeling one has from such a large invasion of
privacy,' Aguilera wrote in a statement before Chaney's sentencing.
Victims? Nude photos of Selena Gomez (left) and
Kim Kardashian (right) were also allegedly hacked and acquired. But no
photographs have appeared online
4Chan is an image-based forum where users can post photos and videos anonymously, as well as comment on others' posts.
Registration is not required, nor possible.
The site is split into various boards, each with their own specific content and guidelines.
These include content on music, photography, gaming, comics, fashion and images of celebrities, such as Jennifer Lawrence.
Its main board, called 'Random', features minimal rules on what can be posted. It is often where controversial images and videos are uploaded by users.
When it launched in 2003, the site was used to post photos and discuss Japanese anime.
However, it quickly expanded, and is now linked to various internet subcultures and activism.
It has also been linked to a number of high-profile hacks.
In 2006, users of 4chan and other websites 'raided' American white nationalist Hal Turner by launching multiple attacks and prank calling his phone-in radio show.
Meanwhile, in 2008, the Yahoo email account of Sarah Palin was hacked by an anonymous 4chan user, before posting her password and screenshots on Wikileaks.
This followed criticism of Palin supposedly using private email accounts for governmental work.
And in May 2009, members of the site attacked YouTube, posting pornographic videos on the site
Registration is not required, nor possible.
The site is split into various boards, each with their own specific content and guidelines.
These include content on music, photography, gaming, comics, fashion and images of celebrities, such as Jennifer Lawrence.
Its main board, called 'Random', features minimal rules on what can be posted. It is often where controversial images and videos are uploaded by users.
When it launched in 2003, the site was used to post photos and discuss Japanese anime.
However, it quickly expanded, and is now linked to various internet subcultures and activism.
It has also been linked to a number of high-profile hacks.
In 2006, users of 4chan and other websites 'raided' American white nationalist Hal Turner by launching multiple attacks and prank calling his phone-in radio show.
Meanwhile, in 2008, the Yahoo email account of Sarah Palin was hacked by an anonymous 4chan user, before posting her password and screenshots on Wikileaks.
This followed criticism of Palin supposedly using private email accounts for governmental work.
And in May 2009, members of the site attacked YouTube, posting pornographic videos on the site
'That
feeling of security can never be given back and there is no compensation
that can restore the feeling one has from such a large invasion of
privacy,' Aguilera wrote in a statement before Chaney's sentencing.
Victims? Nude photos of Selena Gomez (left) and
Kim Kardashian (right) were also allegedly hacked and acquired. But no
photographs have appeared online