Bimbo security breached | World News |Axisoflogic.com

Editor's Commentary:
Okay, I get it - there are people who have a need to take photos or videos of themselves naked, or having sex, or in other private moments. And I get that they seem also to have a desire to share them. Big deal, who cares?

But now there is a brouhaha all over the Internet because somehow - whether through user stupidity or some clever hacker - a bunch of this stuff has been 'leaked' over the past few days and reposted for the world to see. Again, big deal, who cares?

So let's assume these women - and it seems they are all women - haven't staged a public relations action; and let's assume this material really was stolen and republished against their will. Let's then ask ourselves: Given the news of the past several years that virtually nothing online is locked up tight, that government and other agencies are watching and monitoring virtually everything we do online, what kind of bimbo would post this stuff where it might be breachable in the first place?

And why is there such a tizzy about this material and the privacy of these poor women being breached when the world has only barely shrugged over the constant surveillance by our overlords? Apparently, privacy is only important if you're famous and someone wants to see you starkers.

Sorry ladies, but you were just plain stupid.

- prh, Editor
Axis of Logic

The FBI is looking into allegations that intimate pictures of celebrities have been stolen and posted online.

About 20 personalities, including the US actress Jennifer Lawrence, have had images of themselves leaked over the Internet.

It is understood some of the images were obtained from services such as Apple iCloud that back up content from devices on to the internet.

Apple says it is investigating whether iCloud accounts have been hacked.

Ms Lawrence, who stars in The Hunger Games films, has requested an investigation after a hacker apparently obtained photographs, with graphic content, from the mobile phones of numerous celebrities.

Kim Kardashian is believed to be another celebrity whose account was hacked
A spokeswoman for the actress said the internet posts were "a flagrant violation of privacy".

An FBI spokesman told the Associated Press news agency that it was "aware of the allegations" and was "addressing the matter".

Apple spokeswoman Nat Kerris was quoted by Reuters as saying in an email: "We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report."

Experts have raised concerns over the security of "cloud" storage sites.

"It is important for celebrities and the general public to remember that images and data no longer just reside on the device that captured it," said Ken Westin, security analyst at Tripwire.

"Although many cloud providers may encrypt the data communications between the device and the cloud, it does not mean that the image and data is encrypted when the data is at rest.

"If you can view the image in the cloud service, so can a hacker."

'Creepy effort'
Images of the celebrities were leaked on image posting website 4Chan.

The user posting them - who defined him or herself as a "collector" rather than "hacker" - said more images of different celebrities would soon be posted.

Copies of the images spread to other services, including Reddit, Imgur and Twitter, from which they were subsequently deleted by administrators.

While some of the celebrities said the images were fake, others have confirmed their authenticity.

Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead posted on Twitter: "To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves.

"Knowing those photos were deleted long ago, I can only imagine the creepy effort that went into this."

Winstead's comments would suggest iCloud was not at play, as pictures on Apple's service are only viewable online for 30 days.

Raj Samani from Intel Security said: "Almost every service used online requires a password, and to ensure your passwords are secure, they must be complex."

But more often than not, it is human weaknesses that give hackers the simplest route to compromising accounts.

"Phishing" people - meaning to trick them into giving up their password - is considered perhaps the simplest and most targeted way hackers gain access to accounts.

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