Another Hacker Pleads Guilty To 'Celebgate' 2014 iCloud Leaks

A fourth hacker has been linked to and charged with the illegal hacking of iCloud accounts in 2014 that led to the release of private nude photos of several celebrities. George Garofano was charged with using a phishing scheme to gain access to hundreds of iCloud accounts, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

According to the DOJ, the alleged hacker out of Northford, Connecticut, was accused of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which bars fraudulent or unauthorized computer access. He agreed to plead guilty to the single count of unauthorized access to a computer and will face a maximum sentence of five years.

The press release specifically linked Garofano, 26, to the 2014 “Celebgate” incident. In September of that year, a massive wave of nude photos of celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton hit the internet. The photos had been retrieved from the victims’ Apple iCloud accounts and subsequently posted online by hackers.

“I can't even describe to anybody what it feels like to have my naked body shoot across the world like a news flash against my will,” Lawrence said in a 2014 interview with Vanity Fair. “It just makes me feel like a piece of meat that's being passed around for a profit.”

Garofano admitted to authorities that he instigated a phishing scheme to get user passwords in 2013 and 2014. He sent emails disguised as legitimate security alerts that asked recipients to give their login information to Apple, when in fact, they were giving that information to Garofano. With the information, he could login to the victims’ accounts and gain access to photos and any other sensitive material linked to the accounts.

The DOJ said Garofano accessed as many as 250 iCloud accounts, with celebrities and non-famous Connecticut residents both included in that tally. Garofano is the fourth hacker linked to Celebgate to plead guilty to hacking celebrity accounts; Emilio Herrera, Ryan Collins and Edward Majerczyk are the other three. Notably, they only pled guilty to hacking into the accounts and were not held responsible for posting the materials online.