Where are hackers responsible for The Fappening?
Thus far, the US Division of Justice has charged 5 individuals with links to The Fappening. The primary was Ryan Collins, 36, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the second was Edward Majerczyk, 29, of Chicago, Illinois, the third was Emilio Herrera, 32, of Chicago, Illinois, the fourth one was George Garofano, 26, of Northford, Connecticut and the fifth one was Christopher Brannan, from Virginia. The fifth one was arrested again in 2018.
Collins agreed to plead responsible to at least one count of “unauthorized entry to a protected laptop to acquire data” again in 2016. He’s stated to have performed a collection of phishing schemes between 2012 and 2014, through which he sent emails to his victims asking them to replace their passwords, pretending to be Apple or Google. As soon as they responded, he used that data to realize entry to their private data. At times, he downloaded the complete contents of their iCloud libraries. On the whole, he hacked a minimum of 50 iCloud and 72 Gmail accounts, prosecutors say, “most of which belonged to feminine celebrities.” In October 2016, Collins was sentenced to 18 months in jail.
In August 2016, Majerczyk agreed to plead responsible for a similar phishing scheme and was jailed for 9 months on January 24, 2017. He was additionally ordered to pay $5,700 in restitution to cover the counseling providers of 1 unnamed superstar victim. He was accused of breaking into the emails and online storage accounts of as many as 30 celebrities together with Lawrence and model Kate Upton. It’s believed that he worked independently and he was not accused of promoting the pictures or posting them online.
Herrera pleaded guilty to at least one dependence on unauthorized entry to a protected laptop to obtain data in October 2017. He was not accused of being involved in leaking or sharing the photographs and videos he obtained regardless of accessing the accounts of unnamed celebrities and others. He was sentenced to 16 months in jail in March 2018.
Prosecutors found that between April 2013 by October 2014, Garafono used phishing emails posing as Apple’s security department to trick victims into giving of their iCloud credentials. It was not clear if he worked with Collins, Majerczyk, and Herrera. In April 2018, he pleaded guilty to at least one dependence on unauthorized entry to a protected computer to obtain data. On August 29, 2018, a federal court docket sentenced Garofano to eight months in jail.
Brannan, who was a former teacher, pled guilty to federal charges of aggravated identity theft and unauthorized entry to a protected laptop. Aside from celebrities, he additionally targeted his underage sister-in-law, in addition to teachers and college students on the faculty the place he used to show. On March 1, 2019, Brannan was sentenced to 34 months in jail.
