On August 31, 2014, a collection of almost 500 private pictures of various celebrities, mostly women, and with many , were posted on the , and later disseminated by other users on websites and social networks such as and. The images were initially believed to have been obtained via a breach of 's suite , or a security issue in the iCloud which allowed them to make unlimited attempts at guessing victims' passwords. However, access was later revealed to have been gained via targeted attacks. Critics felt that the distribution of the images was a major invasion of privacy for their subjects, while some of the allegedly depicted subjects questioned their authenticity. The leak also prompted increased concern from analysts surrounding the privacy and security of services such as iCloud—with a particular emphasis on their use to store sensitive, private information. The images were obtained via the offered by 's platform for automatically backing up photos from devices, such as. It was initially believed that the images were obtained using an exploit in the service. The photos were being passed around privately for at least a couple of weeks before their public release on August 31. There are claims that unreleased photos and videos exist. The cited anonymous posters from 4chan and who stated that a ring of hackers, traders, and sellers had been operating for months leading up to the mass release. Ultimately, the images were widely circulated online via other channels, including and. A major center of activity was the link-sharing website , where a was created for sharing the photos; in a single day, it amassed over 100,000 followers. Reddit administrators were criticized for allowing this to take place in an alleged violation of their anti- rules. As claimed to be under 18 at the time the photos of her were taken, Reddit staff took photos of her down and warned that anyone re-posting them, or underage photos of which had been circulating prior to this incident, would be permanently banned from the site and could be prosecuted for distributing. The original release contained photos and videos of more than 100 individuals that were allegedly obtained from on hacked iCloud accounts, including some the leakers claimed were celebrities. Shortly after the photos were leaked, several affected celebrities issued statements to either confirm or deny the photos' authenticity. Celebrities who have confirmed the photos' authenticity include confirmed by her publicist , and her boyfriend confirmed by Upton's lawyer , confirmed on , confirmed by spokesman , confirmed via Instagram , and , who also criticized the iCloud service. Celebrities who have denied the photos' authenticity include and. Olympic gymnast initially denied the images' authenticity on Twitter, then later confirmed that the photos were legitimate while also stating she was at the time they were taken. Reports in October indicated that was the first male star to be directly targeted by hackers, however Hogan denied the pictures' authenticity. According to security expert , in addition to the photographs, other personal information such as text messages, calendars, address books, phone call logs and any other data stored on their phones and backed up to the service were also likely stolen. On September 20, 2014, a second batch of similar private photos of additional celebrities was leaked by hackers. Writer condemned the photo leaks and the people who shared the photos. Justin Verlander, then a pitcher for the , told the media prior to a game against the that he keeps his private life private and would rather focus on the Tigers' race with the for the title than be a distraction to his teammates. In an interview with , Apple CEO stated that in response to the leaks, the company planned to take additional steps to protect the privacy and security of iCloud users in the future. Notifications will be provided whenever data is restored to a device via iCloud and after logging into iCloud via a web browser, in addition to existing notifications when a user's iCloud password is changed. Additionally, Apple will broaden and encourage the use of in future versions of its software and operating systems, such as the then-upcoming. Forbes columnist Joseph Steinberg questioned whether the reactions by law enforcement and technology providers indicated that celebrities were being treated differently from ordinary Americans, which, in the case of law enforcement, may be illegal. In October 2014, FBI searched a house in and seized several computers, cell phones and storage drives after tracking the source of a hacking attack to an IP address linked to an individual named Emilio Herrera. A related search warrant application mentioned eight victims with initials A. According to law enforcement officials, Herrera was just one of several people under investigation and the FBI carried out various searches across the country. Herrera pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information in October 2017, and was sentenced to 16 months in jail in March 2018. In March 2016, 36-year-old Ryan Collins of , agreed to plead guilty to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information resulting in a 18-month sentence. While no victims were named in the court documents, numerous media outlets connected Collins' case to The Fappening. During the investigation, it was found that Collins phished by sending e-mails to the victims that looked like they came from Apple or Google, warning the victims that their accounts might be compromised and asking for their account details. The victims would enter their passwords, and Collins gained access to their accounts, downloading e-mails and iCloud backups. In October 2016, Collins was sentenced to 18 months in prison. In August 2016, 28-year-old Edward Majerczyk of , agreed to plead guilty to a similar phishing scheme, although authorities believe he worked independently and he was not accused of selling the images or posting them online. In April 2018, 26-year-old George Garofano of pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information. On August 29, 2018, a federal court sentenced Garofano to eight months in prison. Retrieved September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2014. Last night, Reddit users took to a special subsection of the social networking site devoted to the leaks, called Fappening, to discuss the supposed release of a new wave of naked images. Retrieved September 1, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2014. 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