Massive iCloud hack results in hundreds of celebrity nudes being leaked

Hundreds of nude, semi-nude, and revealing pictures of female celebrities were leaked overnight after being stolen from their private collections. Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, and pop star Ariana Grande were among the celebrities apparently shown in the pictures, which were posted on infamous web forum 4chan. It’s unclear how the images were obtained, but anonymous 4chan users said that they were taken from celebrities’ iCloud accounts. The accounts are designed to allow iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to synchronize images, settings, calendar information, and other data between devices, but the service has been criticized for being unreliable and confusing.

A major trove of celebrity images, some including images alleged to be actress Jennifer Lawrence nude, began spreading all over the web and Twitter on Sunday evening. Early word of the images began spreading on 4Chan earlier in the day, where posters claimed that the images were the result of a hacker intrusion on a number of iCloud accounts and cell phones and that the images included nude celebrities such as Victoria Justice, Emily Browning, Kate Bosworth, Jenny McCarthy and Kate Upton. When contacted by Mashable, a spokesperson for Jennifer Lawrence issued the following statement: “This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.” In addition to Lawrence, these are the biggest names on the list posted to 4Chan of alleged victims of the iCloud leak: Aly and AJ Michalka, Aubrey Plaza, Abby Elliott, Avril Lavigne, Amber Heard, Brie Larson, Candice Swanepoel, Cara Delevigne, Emily Ratjakowski, Farrah Abraham, Gabrielle Union, Hayden Pannettiere, Hope Solo, Hillary Duff, Jenny McCarthy, Kayley Cuoco, Kate Upton, Kate Bosworth, Keke Palmer, Kim Kardashian, Kirsten Dunst, Krysten Ritter, Lea Michele, Lizzy Caplan, Mary Kate Olsen, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rihanna, Scarlet Johansson, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Wynona Ryder, Alison Brie and Dave Franco.