Fourth Hacker Admits Involvement in Massive iCloud Leaks of 2014

Another hacker a fourth one is reportedly associated with and so accused of a hack into the iCloud A/Cs during 2014 which was responsible for the exposure of a number of celebrities' private nude pictures. The hacker named George Garofano is accused of launching a phishing attack for acquiring admission into several hundred iCloud A/Cs, says DOJ (Department-of-Justice) in one press release.

DOJ elaborates that the person alleged to have hacked belonged to Northford, Connecticut where charges were levied on him such as breaching the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) that prohibits unauthorized/fraudulent access to computers. The hacker admitted guilt to one instance of illegitimate admission into a PC for which he'll be sentenced for up to 5-yrs.

According to the Office of United States Attorney inside Los Angeles, George Garofano (26) and living in North Branford's Northford section, who introduces himself as an associate of bank customer care, allegedly robbed 250-and-more iCloud A/Cs of Apple to steal sensitive videos and photographs. In this, Garofano had 3 co-conspirators -1 Pennsylvania-based hacker and 2 Chicago-based hackers. They breached a huge 750 A/Cs used for private storages, with a few hacked to expose extremely intimate contents. Courant.com posted this, January 11, 2018.

On January 11, Garofano admitted to violating CFAA. Within his same day plea agreement, Garofano explained the phishing attack thoroughly due to which he could compromise the photographs. He dispatched an e-mail feigning to be from a security account of Apple, duping his victims so they would either enter their passwords and usernames on an intermediate website or send the same to him, thus getting hold of their iCloud A/Cs along with the private content saved therein.

Furthermore, Garofano admitted to selling the phished off credentials as well as hijacked pictures and videos obtained via the phishing attack. Plentiful iCloud accounts from the total Garofano looted were not of famous people but of common individuals residing in Connecticut. An investigation by FBI led to criticism of both Google and Apple -the former for not instantly withdrawing the pictures from their host websites and the latter for letting an ordinary phishing scheme breach its iCloud program.

» SPAMfighter News - 1/17/2018