Jennifer Lawrence, Ariana Grande and Other Celebs Nude Photos Leak in Massive Hacking Scandal

Although nude image leaks hardly aren't an unusual occurrence for celebrities, one recent leak of such risque subject matter – on the infamous 4chan website – has stirred up media attention, both for the wide range of involved celebrities and the inevitable security implications. While the majority of these images are 'only' stolen images of adult celebrities, a minority appear, either intentionally or coincidentally, to include underage subjects, which has been responsible for frenzied waves of self-censorship among some audiences. Some sites, such as Reddit, have temporarily shut down the host sub-sites that are responsible for proliferating these images, while others remain unimpeded by either their consciences or law enforcement... for the moment.

These leaks included American Idol contestants and actresses like Jennifer Lawrence, with occasional videos to punctuate the static image files. The leaks began on 4chan.org on the first Sunday of September, adding to that site's already considerable reputation for an anarchic 'wild west' style of posting format that respects neither legal boundaries nor social ones. Content on the website ranges from the bizarre to the offensive to the completely mundane, and this is far from the first time 4chan has found itself in similar legal altercations.

The responses from celebrities supposedly depicted has been as diverse as the celebrities themselves. Some, such as the music artist and actress Ariana Grande, claim that the images are fake. Others attempt to shame their audiences while not denying the legitimacy of the x-rated content. Meanwhile, both sides of celebrities are peppered with frequent warnings of possible legal action against those responsible for the leaks.

While the leaker stole the majority of the files through Apple's iCloud storage services, Apple currently claims that there is no evidence of a security breach on their part. Current evidence is suggestive of celebrity account passwords being stolen via targeted phishing attacks, or attacks that mislead their victims into giving criminals personal information. Our malware research team often sees such attacks distributed through hostile web domains and e-mail file attachments, although sophisticated attacks often target government agencies or critically-placed business entities.

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of these leaks, other criminals also are taking advantage of the headlines to distribute new phishing attacks. In e-mail messages claiming to be new security measures by Apple, these phishing attacks try to compromise additional accounts, in much the same way that was likely responsible for the original account breaches.

The individual 4chan poster responsible for this leak also has implicitly threatened to release additional private content, displaying screen captures of other movie and picture files that he or she has yet to reveal to the public at large. Some Reddit users have claimed to have verified the leaker's identity as one Bryan Hamade, although Mr. Hamade has denied all accusations in an interview with the press. Other celebrities supposedly included in the roster of victims include such well-known names as Mary-Kate Olsen and Kim Kardashian.