Apple CEO Tim Cook has spoken to the Wall Street Journal following the ‘photo hacking’ revelations that surfaced last weekend.
Personal photos that claimed to be of over 100 celebrities were posted on image sharing website 4Chan, with a number of the famous victims confirming their pictures had been stolen and uploaded. In some cases the photos were nude images that had apparently been taken at home.
The photos were apparently stolen from copies that had been backed up by Apple’s iCloud service.
Earlier this week Apple issued a statement that said “we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet. None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved.”
Mr Cook told the WSJ that Apple is implementing an enhanced level of security and will send notifications to customers when someone attempts to restore iCloud data to a new device, making them aware of a potential security breach. He also said the company had a responsibility to increase consumer awareness of security risks.