iCloud flaw could be responsible for leaking nude celebrity photos

Last Sunday (31) was marked by one of the biggest celebrity private photo leaks of which there is news. International models, singers and actresses found themselves exposed, after the release of intimate photos taken on the online forum 4chan.

Among them are personalities such as the actress Jennifer Lawrence, protagonist of the American film series "Hunger Games”, based on the books of the same name by American author Suzanne Collins; the singer Avril Lavigne and even the actor Dave Franco, younger brother of the actor James Franco. There are more than 130 photos where there are at least 25 naked celebrities or in more intimate moments.

The exact method used by hackers to gain access to the photos is not yet known, but there is strong evidence that they have been extracted from these celebrities' accounts on the iCloud, a storage service used by smartphones, tablets and computers in Apple .

A service failure Apple apparently allowed hacker programs to test several possible passwords from a Apple IDs, without the traditional limit of 3 attempts. Also known as method brute force (brute force attack, in English), it allows a hacker test any user's password until you get it right. Everything is done automatically, through the use of scripts such as brute, which may be responsible for the leak. Once that's done, just download the content.

If confirmed, this would not be the first major failure of the iCloud, probably originated in the API created for the login in the resource search mine iPhone (Find My iPhone, in English), GPS locator known to anyone who has lost or had a iPhone stolen. The same API has been used in the past to “hijack” iPads e iPhones in Australia and Russia, removing control from their owners, without the Apple confirmed to have submitted any bug fixes to date.

It is also suspected that the photos released yesterday were collected over months, or even years. Sites like Deadspin e Gawker claim that the hackers involved disclosed their possession of the files weeks ago. One of the hackers, a member of the site AnonIB, had said that he was “ripping iClouds”, in reference to the service of the Apple .

And, it looks like there is still more to come. forum users 4Chan and even from Twitter keep asking for money through the service Paypal, or even bitcoins, to publish more photos e youtube de naked celebrities.

Major internet services, however, are reacting. O Imgur is deleting the leaked photos and himself Twitter is suspending user accounts that post the images.

A Apple , that prepares to announce new products and services next day September 9, has not yet commented on the matter.

I use iCloud, how can I protect myself?

For anyone worried about having their data stolen, even if they're not a celebrity, there's a simple solution. Just set up the account iCloud to require “two-factor authentication” (two factor authentication, In english).

With it activated, access to the user's account will require, in addition to the login and password to bar code which is sent via SMS to the phone number registered with the service at the time you try to access it.

In fact, it is worth enabling it on all internet services you are registered with. The main services, such as the social network Twitter, the general account of Google (Gmail, Drive, etc.), the Facebook, Dropbox, Apple , and ecosystem have two-factor authentication methods.