The Fappening/Celebgate Leak and iBrute

Summary: After nude photos of celebrities leaked online, speculation arose about the source. While some suspected ex-partners, evidence suggested hacking. A newly released tool, iBrute, exploited a vulnerability in Apple's Find My iPhone service, allowing brute-force attacks without cooldown periods.

Insights:

• Leaked celebrity photos sparked widespread speculation about the source of the leak, initially focusing on ex-partners.
• Evidence pointed to hacking as the likely culprit, with victims reporting locked accounts and a suspicious new hacking tool.
• The hacking tool iBrute exploited a vulnerability in Apple's Find My iPhone service.

Proper Nouns:

• Fappening Hub: One of the websites that sprung up hosting the leaked photos.
• Fappening Blog: Another website that hosted the leaked photos.
• Victoria Justice: Actress whose photos were among those leaked (some fake, some authentic).
• Ariana Grande: Singer whose leaked photos were fake.
• Jennifer Lawrence: Actress who admitted some leaked photos were authentic.
• iCloud: Apple service implicated in the leaks.
• Gmail: Google service implicated in the leaks.
• Reddit: Platform where the leaks were exposed.
• Hacker News: Website where a link to the hacking tool was posted.
• GitHub: Platform where iBrute was uploaded.
• HackApp: Russian security company that developed iBrute.
• iBrute: Name of the hacking tool.
• Find My iPhone: Apple service with a vulnerability exploited by iBrute.
• RockU: Source of leaked passwords used in iBrute attacks.

Research

• How prevalent were brute-force attacks before iBrute's release and how did it change the landscape?
• What security measures did Apple implement after the iBrute exploit?
• What were the legal ramifications for HackApp for developing and releasing the iBrute tool?