Thanks to recently disclosed federal documents related to the nude celebrity iCloud hackings that took place last summer, it’s now clear that FBI agents were able to track the breach, leading them to two Chicago residences.
One alleged source of the attack was an IP address connected to Emilio Herrera, according to TechSpot. Following this discovery, a warrant was executed on October 16, 2014, only a month after the photos were exposed online. The IP address associated with Herrera was apparently responsible for the violation of 572 iCloud accounts, which were accessed a total of 3,263 times. Many of these were “accounts of celebrities who had photos leaked online,” according to the warrant application reported on by Gawker.
Herrera isn’t the only one under federal scrutiny, however. A second home was later raided by FBI agents claiming that the computers inside were used to access 330 different iCloud accounts without authorization from the respective proprietors. Furthermore, the FBI has actually performed several other investigations related to the hack as well, according to CNN.
“These are a series of unconnected guys conducting relatively unsophisticated hacking,” a law enforcement officer told CNN. He subsequently clarified by mentioning that the perpetrators were members of an online network where they collectively exchanged nude photographs of mostly female celebrities, Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton being notable examples.
In the aftermath of the searches, federal investigators seized several household items including two desktop computers, a laptop, two cell phones, a Kindle Fire, an MP3 player, hard drives, flash drives, and, oddly enough, two floppy disks.
The released documents, while abstaining from mentioning specific names, do address victims by initials. For instance, “J.L.” — presumably referring to Jennifer Lawrence — seemed to have suffered from an anxiety attack while participating in an interview with federal authorities.
Since the case is still considered ongoing, no criminal charges have been filed. That being said, the direction of the search for the culprit of the 2014 “Celebgate” scandal currently remains uncertain.
