FBI arrests the "hacker" behind The Fappening

[Subyman]

I wouldn't consider the victims "idiots." Ignorant, yes, but I doubt they are all idiots. There are plenty of older folks that didn't keep up with tech or fraud through tech. I had a professor at University who worked on the first US plutonium reactor (he is in his 90's) and still consults with Los Alamos. He refused to use email and worked all his problems on paper. He's hand off his books of numerical equations to programmers to create "machine code" he'd call it

 

[CZroe]

I put it in quotes because, even though by the dictionary definition what he did is obviously "hacking", generally people on a board like AT tend to think of something more when we refer to hacking.....

Except I don't recall anyone ever questioning whether or not Kevin Mitnick was worthy of the designation in our eyes. Did anyone on Anandtech ever argue that he wasn't a hacker by our standards back when he was the most famous hacker alive?

 

[Exophase]

"Lawrence then forwarded the phishing email to her assistant that could have given the hacker full access to her iCloud account."

So leaves it to her assistant to manage her deeply personal iCloud account with nude pictures? Or maybe she just wants to make them look dumb instead of her..

 

[PokerGuy]

Except I don't recall anyone ever questioning whether or not Kevin Mitnick was worthy of the designation in our eyes. Did anyone on Anandtech ever argue that he wasn't a hacker by our standards back when he was the most famous hacker alive?

I have no idea whether anyone questioned Mitnick being a "hacker" or not back then, I can only explain why I put it in quotes at this point.

 

[CZroe]

I have no idea whether anyone questioned Mitnick being a "hacker" or not back then, I can only explain why I put it in quotes at this point.

Even then, you and others ITT are assuming he didn't do a lot more to obtain those emails. "How did he get their emails in the first place?" When I read it that's the first thing that came to my mind along with the obvious/likely answer that he legitimately is some kind of hacker even by your/Anandtech's standards. Makes perfect sense that they would only share this part publicly at this point, so I wouldn't question the hacker label even by our standards just yet.

 

[mysticjbyrd]

Good thing they spent so much time and money going after this very dangerous individual. Money well spent.

This is nothing. Osama cost a few trillion.

 

[PokerGuy]

Even then, you and others ITT are assuming he didn't do a lot more to obtain those emails. "How did he get their emails in the first place?" When I read it that's the first thing that came to my mind along with the obvious/likely answer that he legitimately is some kind of hacker even by your/Anandtech's standards. Makes perfect sense that they would only share this part publicly at this point, so I wouldn't question the hacker label even by our standards just yet.

That is an interesting question, how he got the emails. I really doubt he really "hacked" into some system(s) to get those either, he probably just combed through social media and other documents to get them, but that's just speculation -- I'm curious about that as well.

I still doubt he did any real "hacking" of any systems, but we don't know at this point. I don't consider social engineering to get information "hacking", but based on the dictionary definition what he did was hacking, we can all agree on that.

 

[mysticjbyrd]

That is an interesting question, how he got the emails. I really doubt he really "hacked" into some system(s) to get those either, he probably just combed through social media and other documents to get them, but that's just speculation -- I'm curious about that as well.

I still doubt he did any real "hacking" of any systems, but we don't know at this point. I don't consider social engineering to get information "hacking", but based on the dictionary definition what he did was hacking, we can all agree on that.

You think their personal email address is plastered somewhere on social media? That seems unlikely.... It would quickly turn into a spam account.

 

[CZroe]

That is an interesting question, how he got the emails. I really doubt he really "hacked" into some system(s) to get those either, he probably just combed through social media and other documents to get them, but that's just speculation -- I'm curious about that as well.

I still doubt he did any real "hacking" of any systems, but we don't know at this point. I don't consider social engineering to get information "hacking", but based on the dictionary definition what he did was hacking, we can all agree on that.

LOL! Good luck finding that stuff by combing through social media!

He either pulled some social engineering to get those too, he worked for an agency with access to them, or he hacked them.

 

[Exophase]

You think their personal email address is plastered somewhere on social media? That seems unlikely.... It would quickly turn into a spam account.

Not exactly, but you get stuff like this...

First in January 2014 you have Jennifer Lawrence's friend Lorde tweeting saying it has "butt" in it and the media jumping on this:

http://www.bustle.com/articles/2817...-email-address-its-as-immature-as-youd-expect

Then in December 2014 after the Sony email hack you get the media jumping on it again, confirming that her email address was "peanutbutt" (@ something):

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...fincher-to-hitler.html?source=TDB&via=FB_Page

That still doesn't really answer how the phisher got it but it goes to show that some people can't keep their mouths shut about these things.

Thing about phishing is you can guess a bunch of emails and send it out quite en masse before it starts to create a big public notice. The more takers you get the better... The email sent out isn't even personalized so it works for anyone.

At the time a lot of people were blaming Apple for the leak and spreading a lot of public unrest over using iCloud. I think some were even mentioning possible lawsuits against them. Those people look kind of dumb now.

 

[PokerGuy]

LOL! Good luck finding that stuff by combing through social media!

He either pulled some social engineering to get those too, he worked for an agency with access to them, or he hacked them.

Perhaps, but you're ignoring one thing. Those kinds of celebs tend to travel in similar circles, so once you got some of them, you could probably leverage those to get many others as well. Just speculation, but yes, we don't know that at this point.

When you say "he hacked them", what exactly are you thinking he hacked? It's not like there's some central database with all their emails and credentials in it for him to get to. Getting them from an agency or agent etc seems like a very real possibility.

 

[Exophase]

There's actually a lot more to this story that this site omitted. Gawker (bluh) has more of the FBI report:

http://gawker.com/feds-raided-another-chicago-home-in-nude-celeb-hack-inv-1753200305

Apparently, before the phishing email someone already compromised her email address and her Apple services were "acting up", whatever that means. She says she doesn't remember if she clicked on the link or not, while her assistant outright says they knew it was phishing and didn't click on it.

 

[Jeff7]

Password phishing is now considered hacking in?

"The person did a crime that involved using a computer" = "hacking" to mainstream news.