The FBI and Apple are now investigating the iCloud hack that reportedly exposed nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities over the weekend.
"We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report," Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris
told Re/code on Monday. It remained unclear if the photos were stolen via Apple's services, but initial reports said that the message boards where the photos were first posted alluded to "ripping" the photos from iCloud.
The FBI declined to comment on the steps it’s taking during its investigation, but spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a statement the bureau was "aware of the allegations concerning computer intrusions and the unlawful release of material involving high profile individuals, and is addressing the matter."
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The Next Web reported Monday that computer programmers on Twitter were reporting that a hack method posted to the software-repository GitHub was able to crack their own iCloud accounts. They said that the software, called "iBrute," was a so-called brute-force attack, and potentially very embarrassing for Apple, who should have had protections in place to prevent such a simple hack.
Brute-force attacks can be used against user's whose log-in email is known, but password is not. Buy running a piece of simple software, a hacker can automatically guess hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of times at what the password might be, cycling through every possible combination of letters and numbers until the password is guessed.
Most consumer software has protections against brute-force attacks, such as locking an account after a few failed log-in attempts. Many alleged that Apple's iCloud and Find My Phone services did not have these protections, but The Next Web reported that it appeared Apple had patched the brute-force vulnerability around 3:20 a.m. PT on Monday. With the new patch, iCloud locked users out after five failed log-in attempts.
When the software creator, Hackapp, was asked if iBrute could have been used to break into the accounts of the exposed celebrities, Hackapp said, "I’ve not seen any evidence yet, but I admit that someone could use this tool."
According to The Associated Press, Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis, Christina Aguilera, and sports reporter Erin Andrews have all been hacked and exposed in the past. All four related investigations led to criminal convictions of the respective hackers.
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