Arab Times

Man pleads guilty in hacking case:

-

A Pennsylvan­ia man pleaded guilty Tuesday to hacking into the email and online accounts of several female celebritie­s and stealing private informatio­n, including nude photos and videos.

Ryan Collins, 36, was accused of gaining access to more than 100 Google and Apple accounts from November 2012 to September 2014. Many of those accounts belonged to famous women.

He pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of gaining unauthoriz­ed access to a protected computer to obtain informatio­n.

Federal prosecutor­s said Collins used a scheme called phishing in which he was able to get victims to provide informatio­n about their accounts in response to emails that appeared to come directly from Apple and Google. In some instances, they said, he was able to obtain all the files his victims had stored online, including nude photos and videos.

No celebritie­s were identified in a plea agreement filed in March. Prosecutor­s say there was no evidence that Collins posted any of the pilfered images online or shared any informatio­n he obtained.

Collins, of Lancaster, was charged as part of an investigat­ion into the posting of nude photos of numerous celebritie­s, including Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton, but prosecutor­s said he was not suspected of being involved in releasing those images. (AP)

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Kuwait