Private photographs which appear to be naked shots of reality TV star Kim Kardashian and actress Vanessa Hudgens have leaked online and are being widely shared on social networks like Twitter.
This may well be the second round of the “celeb-hackgate” that embarrassed the likes of Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton at the beginning of the month.
The latest leaked photos were reportedly first posted on 4Chan and Reddit, before being widely distributed by every Peeping Tom, Dick and Harry on Twitter.
Find out more about what I think about this in the following video:
I can’t claim to be a follower of Kim Kardashian’s oeuvre, or an aficionado on Vanessa Hudgens’ performances in High School Musical, so I can’t confirm if the pictures are of who they claim to be – but what was interesting to me is that the photos which are allegedly of publicity-shy Miss Kardashian (who recently became Mrs Kanye West) show her holding a BlackBerry phone.
For your benefit, I have zoomed in to the most interesting part of one of the photographs being shared on Twitter:
Seriously, a BlackBerry? Is Kim Kardashian really still using a BlackBerry? Recent posts by her on Twitter suggest that she may be keener on Instagram and the iPhone. Indeed, she typically uses a Twitter client called Echofon which runs on iOS, Android and Mac but – notably – doesn’t have a BlackBerry version.
So, is it possible that these photos were actually taken some time ago (perhaps, *years* ago) and have been secretly squirrelled away in the squalid collections of those who gets their rocks off looking at celeb nudies.
It certainly appears, despite all the focus put on iCloud security during the recent brouhaha, that some of the photos leaked back then were *not* taken on Apple devices – and had been taken some years before.
And we know (I reported about it on Sophos’s Naked Security site back in March 2011) that Hudgens had intimate photos and videos stolen over three years ago when her Gmail account was broken into.
So maybe what we’re seeing here is a bubbling up of old celeb photos, making brand new headlines in the tabloid press.
However old the private pictures, the humiliation for those – celebrities or otherwise – by photo-stealing hackers remains real, and underlines for all of us that we need to take proper care of our online accounts and be extremely cautious over what we share online.
So, if you haven’t already done so, choose a hard-to-crack, hard-to-guess password that you aren’t using anywhere else online, and enable two-factor authentication where available.
If you don’t like the idea of your photographs automatically being uploaded to “the cloud” turn the feature off, and always think twice three times before sending someone a naked snapshot of yourself that may come back to haunt you.
Because even if you take good security of your online accounts, can you be confident that the person you are sharing the photo with is being just as careful?
I imagine that this is a reality they in fact wish was not true… (compare to the one who is on a reality tv show) While I cannot condone the theft (or in general equal and similar actions), I also cannot help but think that if there is anyone to blame (for the photos existing) it is the person who took the photos in the first place (they aren't to blame for the theft itself – which yes, it is wrong but everything has risks – but they are to blame for its existence, in other words). Because let's be honest: if they weren't taken they wouldn't be here. This is in a way similar to someone going into a store, threatening/robbing/whatever the owner (or another person in the store) and then the fact they're on CCTV footage is somehow surprising. It isn't wrong there but it is expected and of course the theft is wrong but just like the criminal shouldn't expect anything else, so too should these people when taking pictures of themselves. Of course, if it is automatically uploaded then one could argue they didn't know on that part and sure, that is indeed fair. But still, if there is something you don't want others to know (or see), you make it impossible (by not writing it down, not even temporarily … typing… keylogger ? etc., by not telling anyone else and by not recording it or whatever you don't want to be available to anyone else). So in the end – and I know they likely won't ask themselves this but they should – they need to ask: did I really want or need the photos/whatever to be taken? If not why did I do it? Do I want to do that again, after this? Should others do it ever?
And indeed, just because you share something with someone does not mean they're as moral, ethical or as cautious as you are (which you could argue that showing it to someone else is not cautious but that's another issue entirely). They might also be untrustworthy to begin with (you might trust them now but are they always going to be trustworthy? Certainly read about a fair bit of cases where this happens).
I Just want to say how graham points out our interest into matters like this and to stay out of them.
Are the images real? What motivated the purported leak? And will the celebs involved validate if the new images are indeed legitimate or not?
Echofon does unofficially exist for Blackberry OS 10 (http://apps.goodereader.com/playbook/blackberry-playbook-social-media-apps/?did=14409). Indeed, many apps not officially written for Blackberry but that are available for for Android can be 'converted' for the Blackberry OS (version 10). Such conversions open a potential security hole for the unscrupulous to catch the unsuspecting.
This is all over the www. But I have seen no proof (pics). If one is going to report a theft, they should provide linkage to the proof of the allegations, or just let it pass unreported.
Didn't like the lawyer; don't like them.
This report is no more credible than another Elvis siting. ©2014 DoktorThomas™
Where's the proof? Lot's of headlines; no evidence.
Is anyone really taking someone stealing nude photos of Kim Kardashian seriously!
The idea of this modest woman being outraged at nude photos of her being viewed by the public is funny and by funny I mean falling on the floor, snorting coke out of my nose, and peeing on myself a little bit funny.
I'm not understanding. A woman (and mother) who just got through exposing her vag, breasts and rear to the world for money is now concerned about things leaking and being exposed? How does that work?