TheFappening has become synonymous with the release of nude photos belonging to some of most famous celebrities. The breach took place when hundreds of intimate snaps were leaked on August 31, 2014. It subsequently spread rapidly over the internet and generated worldwide outrage and condemnation.
The victim list included Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, Selena Gomez andAvril Lavigne, among others – Stars that utilize Apple iPhone or iCloud services as part of their photo syncing, storage and backup procedures. The exact source of the breach remains unknown, however many suggest that it is linked to a security flaw in Apple iCloud’s authentication system – Hypothetically allowing hackers to access files stored in a user’s iCloud account without prior authorization.
The photos were published by a website dubbed “TheFappening” (in reference to the slang term “fap” meaning masturbation) which later became known as “The Fappening 2.0” due to additional leaks involving more victims taking place in 2017. The images come from various sources such as stolen hard drives and mobile devices, non-public cloud storage applications like Apple’s iCloud and laptop backups.
Throughout this event, celebrity privacy campaigns have urged internet users not to share such content as well as ongoing public awareness projects – Discouragingly such events occur from time to time suggesting that security systems have room for improvement both on an individual level and across the entire web landscape. Ultimately what began as an embarrassing episode involving those caught up in this scandal ended with law enforcement becoming involved – Leading to the arrest of four individuals linked with these events on March 26th 2017 after an FBI Investigation lasting two years; Following their naming convention i.e Ryan Collins was named Operation Hackerazzi by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles