The hacker behind the infamous “celebgate/fappening” hacking scandal in 2014 that resulted in private images of celebrities appearing online has pleaded guilty.

Edward Majerczyk, 28, of Chicago, stood accused of illegally accessing over 300 Apple iCloud and Gmail accounts.

Majerczyk accessed the accounts by using a phishing scheme to obtain usernames and passwords for his victims; the emails he sent to his celebrity targets pretended to be from the respective service provider and directed the victims to a website that would ask them for their username and password.

Once those details had been obtained, Majerczyk accessed iCloud and Gmail accounts and downloaded personal information, including nude images and images of the targets engaged in sex acts; those images eventually found their way online, however, no evidence has been discovered that Majerczyk leaked them himself.

Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and Rhianna were among the celebrity victims.

“Hacking of online accounts to steal personal information is not merely an intrusion of an individual’s privacy but is a serious violation of federal law,” United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker said in a statement. “Defendant’s conduct was a profound intrusion into the privacy of his victims and created vulnerabilities at multiple online service providers.”

Majerczyk pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized access of a protected computer to obtain information under a plea agreement that avoided him potentially facing hundreds of charges; in addition the deal included an agreement to transfer the case from Los Angeles to the Northern District of Illinois, presumably so when he is jailed he can serve the time in his home state.

Three from three

Majerczyk’s guilty plea takes the Department of Justice to three from three when it has come to prosecutions of people who have hacked celebrity computers with those embarrassing photographs then finding their way online.

In March Pennsylvania man Ryan Collins pleaded guilty to hacking at least 50 iCloud accounts and 72 Gmail accounts of celebrities, although he vehemently denied leaking the photos online; Collins was subsequently sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.

Oregon man Andrew Helton pleaded guilty in February to hacking 363 Apple and Gmail accounts including those belonging to celebrities, and obtaining X-Rated pictures from a number of those accounts.

Helton is yet to have been sentenced.

Majerczyk faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison. A date for sentencing has not yet been set.

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