HACKED OFF: Pippa’s private pictures send online world into voyeuristic feeding frenzy
SHE was bigger than Donald Trump, bigger than Jeremy Corbyn and bigger even than Manchester United.
Pippa Middleton stormed to the top of Google’s list of “most searched” topics as news broke that a hacker was trying to sell her intimate pictures to the tabloids.
Internet users were trawling online for her “hacked pics”, “naked pics”, “leaked pics” and even her “bra” and “bikini”.
By late Saturday night there were 3.1 million results for the search terms “Pippa Middleton” and “pictures”.
The online frenzy followed revelations that an anonymous hacker had asked for £50,000 from a London tabloid in return for some 3,000 images of Middleton, her millionaire fiancé James Matthews, her sister Kate and other members of the royal family.
Some reports suggested that images on offer included pictures of Middleton trying on wedding dresses and of Matthews wearing no clothes.
Online searches for the pictures in the UK were so high that Middleton out-trended Corbyn, who was about to be revealed as the leader of the Labour party, and Manchester United, as the team beat Leicester City 4-1 in a crunch game in the Premier League.
THE Middleton furore is the latest in a long line of celebrity hacks. In 2014, more than 500 iCloud accounts were hacked with embarrassing pictures of a series of stars – including Jennifer Lawrence of American Hustle and Hunger Games fame, singer Rihanna, and Kaley Cuoco of The Big Bang Theory – subsequently leaked online.
The Middleton hack, also of her Apple iCloud from her phone, is said to be the biggest of its kind.
Specialist officers at London’s Metropolitan Police are now investigating the incident. There were reports that an anonymous seller had offered the pictures to UK tabloids via encrypted messaging service WhatsApp.
The hacker is believed to have approached one tabloid using a pseudonym and asked for £50,000 within 48 hours.
Specialist officers at Scotland Yard are investigating after receiving a report of hacking on Friday.
A spokesman for the Met said: “No arrests have been made. Inquiries are ongoing.”
A spokesman for Middleton said: “I can confirm that not only have the lawyers been informed but the police are about to be involved as well.”
Apple – which did not respond to a request for comment – had previously said it had tightened security on its iCloud accounts after the 2014 hack.
However, last month private pictures of Ghostbusters actor Leslie Jones were lifted from her iCloud and published on her own, hacked, website.
Jones had suffered racist and misogynist abuse on social media shortly before the hack.
As with Middleton, previous leaks generated huge interest online. Lawrence’s Google Trends was measured at two per cent in August 2014. The next month, after images were leaked, she hit 100 per cent.
Cuoco jumped from 13 per cent to 100 per cent. Leslie Jones, before her pictures were leaked was also ranking at two per cent on Google Trends as a search item. Afterwards it soared to 41 per cent.
Stealing 3,000 images, the hacking of Pippa Middleton’s Apple iCloud from her phone is said to be the biggest of its kind. A spokesman confirmed that lawyers had been informed and police would be involved