back to article Nude celeb iCloud hack: Feds seize Chicago man's computers

The FBI has seized the computers of a Chicago man in connection with the "Fappening" hack of Apple's iCloud system, which saw celebrities' nude photographs published online, a recently unsealed warrant has revealed. Photographs and videos of more than 100 celebrities were published online last August after an unspecified …

  1. jonathan1

    Wow, from his own home? Obviously never watched the film Hackers.

    To quote Phreak and Cereal:

    "What are you, stoned or stupid?

    You don't hack a bank across state lines from your house, you'll get nailed by the FBI.

    Where are your brains, in your ass? Don't you know anything?"

    "Stupid, man. It's universally stupid"

    If its true that all those accounts were accessed from one place..One wonders why that level of activity didn't trigger some sort of flag.

    1. Fink-Nottle

      Kids! Here's why you should spent more time reading books than memorising movie dialog ....

      Herrera, notably, has not been charged — nor, it seems, is he even considered a suspect.

      1. jonathan1
        Devil

        Fink,

        Thanks for the put down, it has left me feeling enriched for it. So have a cookie.

        I do confess however you are quite correct in pulling me up over that comment. It was rushed and generally not very good. I hereby so apologise to you all. I've let myself down, my family down and all of you.

        I am concerned however that the message of the PSA you so graciously provided is wrong. It should be "Kids, here's why you need to spend more time on the comments that you post. If you rush them or otherwise not put adequate effort in, a fellow commentard will rip it to shreds along with your self-esteem at the first opportunity.

        I do like it that I'm not the least bit sensitive*.

        Jonny

        *I do say above in good fun and have taken your comment with good humour. It was legit.

    2. Ammaross Danan

      To your point, that sort of activity could/should have raised a flag at the least. However, a large company (or even a hotel) would easily exceed 500 iCloud accounts by merely having guests on their wifi. I fain to think what a Starbucks or metro open wifi NATs in a day.... Even with flags, they could be red herrings. I'd still do it if I was the sec bod, but I'd also start whitelisting some.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      This is why one should always duct-tape the handsets of pay phones together and use those for hacking.

      1. MrXavia

        No no no, you mean connect two iPhones together with duct tape.. this IS the 21st century!

        1. Eddy Ito

          "this IS the 21st century!"

          Which is exactly why you don't use iPhones, they're too easy to locate. You want the dumbest phones you can get your hands on, preferably ones without gps and on two different carriers.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          The only reason you would duct tape two iPhones together is so that you only have to swing the mallet once to gain the desired effect. It's called smashomorphism baby.

  2. ma1010
    Pirate

    Someone else?

    We don't have enough information yet to form an opinion, really. Perhaps it was a third party using an unprotected wi-fi link or some other way of subverting Huerrera's Internet connection.

    I know of one case where an innocent person's house was raided and computers seized due to child porn allegations. The cops had the right IP number, but there was nothing on the seized computers. It turned out the culprit was his neighbor who used the victim's unsecured wi-fi to download the porn.

    1. JimmyPage Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Someone else?

      There was a case in the UK a few years ago where plod kicked in a door based on an IP address.

      Problem was they hadn't noticed the time zone offset, and got the wrong house.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Joke

        Re: Someone else?

        Do British IP addresses have TZ offsets?

        Boy, you people are strange...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Someone else?

          "Do British IP addresses have TZ offsets?"

          The issue was the IP address was dynamically allocated by the ISP, who recorded who it was allocated to and when. The timezone became important when (mis)reading these logs.

        2. John H Woods Silver badge

          Re: Someone else?

          "Do British IP addresses have TZ offsets?"

          Well, he's using 'IP address' as a metonym for a DHCP lease, so ...

          ... yes, until 25 October. Then no. Until 27 March. Then yes. ...

    2. Ammaross Danan

      Re: Someone else?

      They're likely looking for a C&C bot or somesuch on the hardware. Any hacker worth his weight (or even most skiddies for that matter) will have a small gaggle of zombies they can proxy through. They'd have to find the C&C hub and access logs for THAT (or just monitor it) in order to find the real culprit.

    3. Mark 65

      Re: Someone else?

      Maybe he runs a Tor exit node.

  3. Your alien overlord - fear me
    Pirate

    He's borrowed by plan of attack - launch complex attacks from the comfort of my own home knowing that no one will think I'm stoopid enuf to actually do it from home - classic double bluff.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So, was he running a ToR exit node?

    [sorry if this is a repeated question, this comment has been sitting here unsubmitted for an hour]

  5. asdf

    hmm

    I wonder how many of these celebs didn't even realize their snaps were out in the cloud and not just on their phone? Even then phones get stolen. Moral of story if you never want your naked pictures to end up the internet at the very least never take naked pics of yourself or allow anyone else to do it. Then again knowing Hollywood half of them were happy for the publicity.

    1. 100113.1537

      Re: hmm

      Or at least, use a camera and not your 'phone.

      Smartphones are still - basically - a communication device with added recording functions. They desperately WANT to share everything that is stored on them with anyone they can contact - this is a feature not a bug people!

      And to refer to your final point, this is probably why Hollywood types like them!

      1. ZZLEE
        Facepalm

        Re: hmm

        One mans feature is another mans bug.

        1. Mark 85

          Re: hmm

          One man's technology is another man's "whooopeeee!!!!!"

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: hmm

            And one man's whoopee is another man's gross.

            But yes, this is why digital cameras are here to stay. Camera phones don't conveniently airgap your snaps.

    2. Richard 12 Silver badge

      Re: hmm

      As far as I recall, none of them knew and some of them thought the photos had been erased for a long time.

      The "cloud" is dangerous - take a photo with many smartphones while on WiFi and it's instantly uploaded by default.

      Delete it from the phone, and it's not deleted.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: hmm

      Better idea, just stop caring if people see you naked!

      If someone threatened to release nude pictures of me, I would publish some myself

      1. Just Enough
        Facepalm

        Re: hmm

        "If someone threatened to release nude pictures of me, I would publish some myself"

        This brave stance would sound a lot better coming from someone not Anonymous.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Digital immortals

    There will be researchers looking back on the emergence of digital immortality and they might just stumble on this, another conversation where the participants come face to face with an inability to die in the digital realm.

    Life has one thing (for most people, those without genetic offspring) that they can chose to exit without trace, once you have created data you have no guarantee you will be able to delete it.

    Like all the radio we have ever transmitted goes into space Jennifer lawrence's "bits" travel onward in the big data universe.

  7. James 132

    I'm curious the guy hasn't been charged with anything. Is it possible his computer was compromised and was just used by a node by a third party?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Dear Chicago

    Nice to see Chicago in the news for something other than murders and corruption.

    Go Hawks!

    1. ps2os2

      Re: Dear Chicago

      I live in Chicago and who are the Hawks (other than a 3rd rate basketball team)?

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