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Weekly updates


Following the mass release of nude celebrity photos hacked over the weekend, Apple have made a statement defending its systems, specifically iCloud. Apple claims that certain celebrities were compromised via attacks on passwords, usernames and security questions. The multinational corporation maintains that none of the cases were a result of security breaches within its own systems.

The leaked nude photos of more than 100 celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Kirsten Dunst, has provoked new arguments for and against personal responsibility and online privacy violations – along with fuelling anxiety in the more-or-less ethically uncharted information age. In some sense, Apple is hinging its argument on user-responsibility (i.e. users failing to maintain airtight passwords and security questions). However, one could also argue that username and password strength/protection is still a facet of Apple’s systems… and that the computer/software giant should make greater efforts to protect user gateways in the future.

Read the full statement below:

‘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 [sic] 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.’

[Via.]