Apple says celebrity accounts were compromised

Cupertino, California – Apple launched an investigation after security researchers reported about a possible flaw in the company’s iCloud service. Now Apple is confirming the breach. In a statement, Apple representative Natalie Kerris said that a few accounts were compromised.

Kerris added that Apple was outraged when it learned about the theft. Apple engineers launched a 40-hour investigation and concluded that a targetted attack compromised the accounts of the celebrities Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and others.

The attack was described by Apple as “all too common on the Internet.” However, the company is denying earlier reports that its iCloud servers and Find my iPhone service were undermined. Check out Apple’s statement below.

Apple Media Advisory: 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.