What you need to know
- A UK man has been jailed for stealing intimate photos and videos from hundreds of iCloud accounts.
- 38-year-old Robert Field used "an elaborate technique" to guess the passwords of his victims.
- He used images for his own gratification, as well as sharing them online.
A UK man has been jailed for 32 months after pleading guilty to stealing intimate photos and videos from 297 iCloud accounts.
As reported by Leicestershire Live, 38-year-old Robert Field hacked into hundreds of iCloud accounts and stole images and shared them with people he knew and on publicly on websites.
According to the report:
A sexual predator hacked into the Apple iCloud accounts of hundreds of people to steal intimate videos and pictures for his gratification.Robert Field used an elaborate technique to guess the passwords of his victims then took the images and shared them both with people he knew and publicly on websites.Police found the 38-year-old, from Nightingale Avenue, Hathern, near Loughborough, had kept a full detailed spreadsheet on his computer that contained the personal details of all of his 297 victims including their security answers, names, date of birth and addresses.
Field's spreadsheet also contained the technique that he had used to hack their accounts and what he had captured. He was arrested in June of 2018 after police received a tip-off about his activity. He pleaded guilty on February 14 to 28 counts of causing a computer to perform a function to secure unauthorized data, and one further count of securing unauthorized access to computer material with intent.
Police stated that Field "meticulously" researched his victims, and was able to use security questions to reset accounts after acquiring their emails. He worked through the night so that victims were only informed their passwords had been reset once they woke up.
The news is a stark reminder of the need for vigilance and discernment when setting iCloud security measures, passwords and security questions.
Here's our guide to keeping your iCloud account and your photos secure.
