FBI agents raided two Chicago-area homes last year in connection with iCloud celebrity photo hack

[Shawn Knight]

Newly unsealed federal documents pertaining to the investigation of last year’s iCloud celebrity nude photo hack reveal the FBI was able to trace the attacks back to two Chicago-area homes.

IP addresses obtained from Apple led authorities to the home of Emilio Herrera on October 16, 2014. According to investigators, one or more computers used at Herrera’s residence accessed or attempted to access multiple celebrities’ e-mail and iCloud accounts between May 31, 2013, and August 31, 2014.

Authorities allege Herrera’s IP address was used to access approximately 572 unique iCloud accounts a total of 3,263 times. There’s also mentioned of 4,980 attempted resets against 1,987 passwords although it’s not clear if these were related to the celebrity photo incident.

Federal agents raided a second home in which they claim computer(s) there were used to access 330 unique iCloud accounts during the same timeframe. Multiple computers were confiscated from both locations in addition to cell phones, an Amazon Kindle, floppy disks (people still use these?), hard drives and flash drives.

The federal documents name multiple celebrities, though by initials only. One celebrity, identified as “J.L.” (presumably Jennifer Lawrence), apparently had an anxiety attack and was visibly shaken during an interview with authorities.

Curiously enough, no criminal charges have been filed as the investigation is said to be ongoing. It’s unclear whether the investigation has led authorities to other locations in the Windy City or elsewhere.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/60950-fbi-agents-raided-two-chicago-area-homes-last.html

 

[Satish Mallya]

Remember kids, secure your WiFi with WPA2, and a strong passphrase.

 

[Trillionsin]

Remember kids, secure your WiFi with WPA2, and a strong passphrase.

Is this a joke? or... I dont get it. Does this article have anything to do with Wifi? lol
Or are you somehow just suggesting to make better passwords?

What if this guy just had some kind of backdoor in his PC where the real hackers were just using his PC as a route? Is there any information on whether Emilio Herrera pleaded guilty? I'd like to hear statements from him... but then again I dont really care anymore.

 

[Satish Mallya]

Is this a joke? or... I dont get it. Does this article have anything to do with Wifi? lol
Or are you somehow just suggesting to make better passwords?

What if this guy just had some kind of backdoor in his PC where the real hackers were just using his PC as a route? Is there any information on whether Emilio Herrera pleaded guilty? I'd like to hear statements from him... but then again I dont really care anymore.

It's pretty likely that the culprits used unsecured WiFi as a launch point. If you know enough to use a script to launch the attack (evidenced by the number of accounts) you probably know enough to not use your home internet connection.
Add to that the fact that this was over two residences, and my money is squarely on 'no/weak WiFi password'.
Even if we considered the malware theory, using WiFi is just easier, and guaranteed (well, almost) untraceable. Occam's razor.
Of course, this is speculation and it may turn out that the guy is just an *****, and did in fact use his own internet connection. We shall see,I suppose.

 

[NightAngel79]

Is this a joke? or... I dont get it. Does this article have anything to do with Wifi? lol
Or are you somehow just suggesting to make better passwords?

What if this guy just had some kind of backdoor in his PC where the real hackers were just using his PC as a route? Is there any information on whether Emilio Herrera pleaded guilty? I'd like to hear statements from him... but then again I dont really care anymore.

It's pretty likely that the culprits used unsecured WiFi as a launch point. If you know enough to use a script to launch the attack (evidenced by the number of accounts) you probably know enough to not use your home internet connection.
Add to that the fact that this was over two residences, and my money is squarely on 'no/weak WiFi password'.
Even if we considered the malware theory, using WiFi is just easier, and guaranteed (well, almost) untraceable. Occam's razor.
Of course, this is speculation and it may turn out that the guy is just an *****, and did in fact use his own internet connection. We shall see,I suppose.

It mentioned Apple logs that show *multiple* attempts at guessing a password, as well as attemps to reset passwords. Sounds like some regular ol brute force going on.

Therwe is NO WAY the people responsible were just sniffing on a wifi location, and THAT many celebrities just happened to use. There was a slew of celebs accounts compromised.

 

[Satish Mallya]

It mentioned Apple logs that show *multiple* attempts at guessing a password, as well as attemps to reset passwords. Sounds like some regular ol brute force going on.

Therwe is NO WAY the people responsible were just sniffing on a wifi location, and THAT many celebrities just happened to use. There was a slew of celebs accounts compromised.

Oh, absolutely. What I meant is that whoever did it probably ran that brute force attack through an unsecured WiFi network (I.e. utilized an open internet connection), not that they sniffed transient traffic.

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

Remember my fellow peasants, if you ever get hacked, nothing will be done and no-one will ever be arrested. Justice only for the Nobility.