18 months in prison for hackers

Ryan Collins, one of the main suspects in the stolen photos of nude celebrities published in 2014, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison in the United States. He was found to have illegally accessed the Apple and Google accounts of over 100 celebrities.

The case, which is known under the name "Celebgate" erupted late 2014, as a wave of nude photos of celebrities was publicly released on 4Chan and Reddit sites. The case led to an FBI investigation, who had the opportunity to received the Apple partnership, and in particular had led to the arrest of Ryan Collins, resident in Pennsylvania. The latter has been convicted of stealing passwords from more than 100 Apple and Google accounts belonging to celebrities targeted by these leaks, between November 2012 and September 2014. However, the US Department of Justice does could prove that he was originally broadcast pictures.

This case is reminiscent of Edward Majerczyk, a resident of Chicago, who is also accused of having illegally accessed celebrity accounts between 2013 and 2014. In his case, they are at least 300 compromised accounts that were related to its activities but again, it could not be proved that it was originally broadcast pictures. Similarly, the Department of Justice has provided no evidence that Collins and Majerczyk could work together. The two hackers have pleaded guilty and Majerczyk face the same punishment as Collins.