The California US Attorney’s Office made an arrest in an infamous case of hacking that made news in August 2014. Hundreds of nude photos of A-List celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence and Ariana Grande were released for the world to see.
A 36-year-old named Ryan Collins from Lancaster, Pennsylvania was arrested for felony computer hacking, in severe violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Collins is expected to plead guilty. He could face five years in federal prison, but a plea bargain would reduce that to 18 months. According to prosecutors, Collins used ‘phishing’ emails to get celebrity iCloud passwords and email passwords. He sent fake Apple emails to these celebrities asking to reset their passwords. The new passwords went directly to Collins. As many as 50 iCloud and 72 Gmail accounts were compromised, mostly from young celebrity women, dubbing this the ‘Celebgate’ scandal. But there’s still a mystery: did Collins actually release the photos? He’s just charged with hacking the accounts and getting the images. There’s the issue of ‘Original Guy’, whose online name the leaks are under, who claim the photos were paid for using Bitcoin. We don’t know if Collins and ‘Original Guy’ have any connection.
At least the hacker who got the photos has been apprehended. If Collins hadn’t obtained the photos, this Original Guy character, or characters, wouldn’t have leaked them, and Celebgate would have never happened. I’m just upset that he’s only going to spend 18 months in prison while a group of teachers in Atlanta spend 20 years just for fixing test scores of underprivileged teenagers. FBI Agent David Bowdich urge all email users, celebs or not, to be skeptical about giving personal information online. I advise, no, I strongly advise for hackers not to steal personal information. You’re going to get caught eventually. You may get away with it for awhile, but people of all walks of life are sick and tired of getting victimized. People are saying no more. Consumers are getting smarter and hipper to the game. So don’t even play it. If you like looking at celebrities, go buy a magazine or something. Who and what do you think ‘Original Guy’ is?