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Jul 5, 2016 · Edward Majerczyk — a hacker who used phishing scams to gain access to celebrities' iCloud accounts — has pleaded guilty, and will face up to five years in federal prison. Majerczyk was able to access over 300 Gmail and iCloud accounts, with at least 30 accounts belonging to celebrities.
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By Joel Khalili
last updated 19 October 2021
Hacker broke into hundreds of iCloud accounts over the course of multiple years
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Brazhyk)
A man has admitted to breaking into the accounts of Apple iCloud users in order to steal intimate images and videos, court filings show.
Under the online pseudonym “icloudripper4you”, Chi boasted frequently of his ability to break into iCloud accounts and exfiltrate the images and videos stored therein.
To gain access to iCloud accounts, Chi masqueraded as a member of the Apple customer support team using a series of fake email accounts. Although the court documentation does not specify, victims were presumably encouraged to hand over their login credentials under false pretences.
The documentation also makes reference to instances in which conspirators themselves provided Chi with the Apple IDs and passwords of victims.
Although Chi sold the stolen content to others online, he also maintained a 1TB cloud storage subscription to house a large bank of nude images and footage for his personal collection. In total, this collection is said to have comprised hundreds of thousands of items.
While Chi’s scheme ultimately affected only a tiny fraction of Apple iCloud customers, of which there are thought to be roughly one billion, the duration and sexually-motivated nature of the crime will be cause for concern for many.
TechRadar Pro asked Apple for comment on the steps users can take to shield their iCloud accounts from campaigns of this kind, but did not receive an immediate response.
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