Earlier in the year, an Oregon man was arrested as he had targeted celebrity Google and Apple accounts, now the latest updates on the case is that he has been pleaded guilty on the accounts of hacking into the Google and Apple email accounts which also included a few accounts of unnamed celebrities. This week the verdict that was given was that he was to service a prison sentence of six months. Andrew Helton, the name of the Hacker was guilty of stealing from 13 people around 161 personal photos.
On Thursday, the sentence was handed down by John A. Kronstadt, a U.S. District Judge; this was the information that had been reported by the Los Angeles Times. The technique details that had been used was not disclosed, however, the information that had been disclosed by the prosecutors was that verification emails was sent out to the victims which was formatted in a way that it was sent from Google and Apple.
There was a link that was included in the email which took them to an account login portal that posed as a legitimate one which was actually located on a malicious webpage. Though he was arrested in 2013, however he had already started this from 2011. The scheme that he used was to gain the login credentials of around 363 accounts; this also included various celebrities who are part of the entertainment industry.
ABC News got to look at the court filing Stephanie S. Christensen, a U.S. Attorney had stated that celebrities, acquaintances and strangers were baited, targeted and hooked by the hacker. He managed to get his hands on some intimate and nude images; however it was a good thing that it was not released out in the public. The hacker stated that he regretted what he did and also stated that the phishing attack was triggered due to the bipolar disorder which ever since he was arrested, he has been getting treated for.
