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Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, and Scarlett Johansson appear to have had their phone data hacked and private nude photos exposed in a major online leak.
Jennifer’s representative appears to have confirmed that the photos of her are genuine through releasing the following statement: “This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.”
The images were posted on a thread on social media site 4chan and were apparently were accessed via a leak on Apple’s iCloud (an external digital data storage system) that allowed celebrities phones to be hacked.
The leaked images were posted in an attempt to earn bitcoins – a digital currency – and although so far it is mainly Jennifer Lawrence’s images that have been exposed, the original poster claims to have hundreds more celebrity pictures that they plan to post.
A list has been circulating online purporting to be of all the celebs that are affected and includes Scarlett Johansson, Kim Kardashian and Rihanna, as well as Ariana Grande, Victoria Justice, Hilary Duff, Kaley Cuoco, Mary-Kate Olsen, Selena Gomez, Avril Lavigne, Amber Heard, Kirsten Dunst, Lea Michele, Lizzy Caplan, Kate Upton, Teresa Palmer and Vanessa Hudgens.
Almost all the affected celebs are women plus reportedly “a shot of Allison Brie and Dave Franco”.
The authenticity of many of the pictures has been confirmed. So far, come celebrities including Victoria, have used social media to deny the pictures are of them, while others, including Mary Winstead have confirmed they have been hacked and exposed.
This story is still developing but it is believed that whoever posted the original pictures could be in serious legal trouble. In 2012, a man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for posting nude images of Scarlett to the web. Apple, who are yet to comment, are also thought to be in hot water, as they may be held responsible for privacy violation due to flaws in their iCloud system.
