Apple Responds: Was iCloud To Blame For Celebrity Nude Photo Phone Hack?

The internet has been abuzz after the celebrity nude photo phone hack broke over the weekend. Apple has responded saying it was not an iCloud failure.

buzz — September 2, 2014

Here is the statement Apple has emailed to media in regards to the the celebrity nude photo phone hack that some have linked to iCloud:

“Update to Celebrity Photo Investigation

We wanted to provide an update to our investigation into the theft of photos of certain celebrities. When we learned of the theft, we were outraged and immediately mobilized Apple’s engineers to discover the source. Our customers’ privacy and security are of utmost importance to us.

After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet.

None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved.

To protect against this type of attack, we advise all users to always use a strong password and enable two-step verification. Both of these are addressed on our website at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4232. “