Learn a lesson, kids. You don’t invade other people’s privacy. This is especially true for social media. Justice comes to celebgate hacker Ryan Collins. And it comes swift and hard.
Ryan Collins, a 36-year-old from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to federal hacking charges. Furthermore, he admitted two a two year online scam. Also, he explained the scam in detail. He gained 100 passwords through phishing. These passwords included the celebritity passwords of people like Jennifer Lawerence and Rhianna. Another thing he did was con celebrities into handing him passwords and emails. He did this by pretending to be Google or Apple. Collins used software to steal their iCloud backups. Finally, Collins ran a fake online modeling company. He did this to trick women into sending nude photographs. ?All of this is according to court documents.
As a result, 50 Apple iCloud accounts and 72 Gmail accounts got compromised. In August 2014, over 100 celebrity photos leaked online. Most were either nude or unflattering. While Apple’s iCloud service took much of the blame, people forgot there was a hacker among us. Also, people forgot Collins hacked into Google accounts as well. He was arrested in Los Angeles, but tried in his home state of Pennsylvania. Collins faced five years in federal prison. But since he plead guilty, he will only do 18 months maximum, in federal prison.
That’s the only reason Ryan Collins admitted to any of this, or plead guilty. The gig was up. The hacking party was over. You think he’s sorry for his crimes? You really think he’s sorry for nearly destroying people’s lives? I may sound cynical, but I doubt it. Collins is sorry he’s going to prison. This plea bargain lessened the time. This should be a lesson to us all. The law, the victims, the courts are not playing! Because if you post nude or condemning photos of someone online without their permission or approval, they will catch you. They will prosecute and imprison you. Just ask some of the other sextortionists caught and doing hard time. Speaking of hard time, do you think 18 months is enough for Ryan Collins?