Celeb Photo Hacker Sentenced to Prison

A Pennsylvania man named Ryan Collins, has pled guilty to the email and online hacking that granted him access to the private information of many celebrities, some of which were nude photos. After his guilt admission, Ryan was sentenced to 18 months in prison by a federal judge.

Actresses that had their privacy invaded in the incident include: Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Kardashian, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst, Vanessa Hudgens, Rihanna, Kate Bosworth, Hayden Panettiere, and Lake Bell.

The prosecutors say that during the time between November 2012 to September 2014, Collins gained access to over 100 Google and Apple accounts, but they also added that there was no proof that he was the one who posted the naked images in what was dubbed “Celebgate.”

Ryan explained that he got access to so many accounts by using a “phishing scheme,” where he crafted fake emails that looked like official ones from Apple or Google, and asked his victims for their password and login info for security reasons.

Apparently a lot of people fell for it, at which point he was granted access to their accounts and then would download everything he saw of interest.