UPDATED 14:37 EDT / SEPTEMBER 19 2011

NEWS

FBI Continues to Investigate Anonymous High-Profile Celebrity Hacks

Anonymous has kept FBI’s Los Angeles office busy investigating its somewhat erratic targeting of eminent figures. FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller spilled to CNET that there are already dozens of victims so far. The Bureau has been at this whole investigation thing since late 2010. Unlike corporations, celebrities are rather round and about telling the public that they’ve been hacked either for further publicity or to foil negative profile-raising. The hacker group claims to be a part of Anonymous and calls themselves Hollywood Leaks.

Emillier clarified that Anonymous isn’t an individual group but a collective that attacks in a “let’s do this” consciousness. They randomly emerge out of Internet forums–sometimes as a group, sometimes as a single hacker (or unconnected hackers)–who all release their info at the same time under the same name without communication between one another. It helps frame why one day Anonymous is seen hacking into tyrannical governments, another hitting Arkansas Sheriffs and then today attacking Hollywood actors. A number of Anonymous offshoots even justified the collective’s decentralized nature.

The latest notable to get a dose of Anonymous’ hackjob are actresses Mila Kunis and Scarlett Johansson. The nude photos of Johansson appear to have been taken by the actress herself. They were flaunting around the internet and was said to have been hacked from the actress’ phone. According to Los Angeles Times, the actress personally asked the FBI to look into the matter. Before Kunis and Johansson, there were nude photos of Vanessa Hudgens leaked from her Gmail account.

Aside from the leaked nude photos, the FBI is also investigating phone hacks and intrusion to Twitter and e-mail accounts of some 50 celebrities. In a Youtube video last month, the group said their targets over the next few weeks will be celebrities and “Jew-controlled media.”

“Attention Hollywood. We are Anonymous. We have been watching you. We have been listening to you. You have been allowed to run free too long. The time of Jew-controlled media is over. We are taking back the media with your faggot vampires and Scientology pastors. We are here for the people. We are here for the Lulz. We are here to stay. We have your lives. We have your blood, sweat and tears. Over the next couple of weeks, everyone will have them. We will rock you for ages. Consider this our acceptance speech for the Video Music Awards.”

In line with the widespread celebrity hacking splurge, McAfee profiled 10 celebrities who are likely to be targeted by these consecutive horny hackjobs. The catalogue puts Heidi Klum on number 1, followed Cameron Diaz, Piers Morgan, and 7 others.

Back in June, Anonymous defaced 51 Malaysian government websites, accusing them of suppressing the freedom of the internet. They also disfigured the website of Syria’s Ministry of Defense over the same allegation. As the Texan police force is making arrests of suspected Anonymous members, they eventually became a target as well, dumping on Pastebin foul dialogue between sheriffs which are supposed to be kept secret. Following the string of cyberattacks, the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCICC) of the US Department of Homeland Security warns a series incursions that are possibly to be carried out by the collective over the next few months.


A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU