Social Media Expert Kris Ruby on the Celebrity Photo Hack

Recently, the digital privacy of celebrities was invaded in a massive photo hack.  Naked pictures of 100 female celebrities were secured and several have already been posted to the site 4Chan. The hacker claims to have more then 100 celebrities in total and has more photos pending release.

HOW IT WAS DONE

While cyber security experts are still looking into how this happened, many experts believe the hack occurred through Apples iCloud. The images were first published on 4Chan and then spread like wildfire on Twitter and other social media sites. The person who posted the images to 4Chan mentioned that they were hacked from iCloud. It may have also been done using the Find my iphone app. Tech bloggers claim a brute force service called iBrute may have been used to gain access to celebrities passwords including all of the photos stored in their iCloud accounts.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY?

Consider whether you really want to store your private information in the cloud or on your personal hard drive. Have different passwords for accounts and do not include personal data such as birthdays or other easy to guess numbers For those with an iphone, turn on two-step verification. This makes it harder for hackers to gain access to your passwords. This would mean that the hacker would also need physical access to your phone and password to get in as a password is texted to your phone.

THINK TWICE BEFORE UPLOADING THOSE NUDE PHOTOS?

The Twitterverse is in a frenzy over these nude photos. Many are attacking Jennifer Lawrence saying she shouldn’t have taken the nude photos to begin with. A TIME.com writer said, “Think twice before uploading those nude photos?” The main issue here is that people don’t truly understand how the cloud works and that they are uploading anything when they utilize the iCloud service. They believe that if they take the photos and store them on their personal phones or in the cloud, they are safe. This is simply not true. We need to educate people on the difference between storing a photo and uploading a photo on the cloud. People have a false sense of trust in the cloud. As I’ve said countless times before, “Enough with posting the racy photos.” I didn’t say- enough with TAKING the racy photos. But enough with posting them or keeping them in an unsafe place (such as on the cloud) where people have access to them. I have no issue with people taking these photos in the privacy of their own home and in an intimate moment with their partner. However, it’s no longer safe to do this on your phone. If you insist on taking racy photos, go back to the basics and take them with a Polaroid.  Instead of storing them in the cloud, store them in a shoebox!

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