Two Arrested Over Naked Selfies App

Two men face prison sentences in the US after they developed an app that trawls through people’s private photo albums looking for naked selfies.

Brandon Bourret, 39, of Colorado Springs, Colorado and Athanasios Andrianakis, 26, of Sunnyvale, California, were arrested at their homes, according to the US Department of Justice.

Naked Selfies

Both men were charged with breaching the computer services of Photobucket, an image and video hosting website.

What the two men did was develop an app, which they called Photofucket, that scanned through the private libraries of people on Photobucket. The software scoured private photo albums for bare skin, in a practice known as ‘FUSKING‘.

This app was able to circumvent the privacy settings at Photobucket.com, and accessed and copied users private and password protected information, images and videos. Essentially, the suspects stole naked pictures from unsuspecting women .

They then allegedly sold passwords and access to Photofucket, to allow customers to view the images and videos on the Internet.”

Both men have been charged with conspiracy, computer fraud and abuse, access device fraud, identification document fraud and wire fraud. They face potential prison sentences and financial penalties.

“It is not safe to hide behind your computer, breach corporate servers and line your own pockets by victimizing those who have a right to protected privacy on the internet,” said US Attorney Walsh. “The US Attorney’s Office is keenly focused on prosecuting those people for their theft – and for the wanton harm they do to innocent internet users.”

“Unauthorized access into a secure computer system is a serious federal crime,” said Special Agent in Charge Ravenelle.  “The arrest of Brandon Bourret and his co-conspirator reflects the FBI’s commitment to investigate those who undertake activities such as this with the intent to harm a company and its customers.”

US authorities said the investigation into the breach is still ongoing.

X-rated Photos

The dangers of naked selfies is well documented. Last September, nude pictures of many female celebrities were apparently been leaked online after they were stolen by a hacker.

The photos allegedly include photos of Coronation Street sex symbol Michelle Keegan, Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence, Spider-Man star Kirsten Dunst, pop star Ariana Grande, singer Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Avril Lavigne and Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco.

Many other x-rated photos of celebrities were also hacked including Sports Illustrated model Kate Upton, Nickelodeon star Victoria Justice, actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, actress/singer Vanessa Hugdens, actress Lake Bell, former Disney stars Aly and AJ Michalka, Mary-Kate Olsen, comedienne Aubrey Plaza, Bring It On star Gabrielle Union, model Emily Ratajkowski, actress Kate Bosworth and Heroes’ Hayden Panettiere.

Apple was said to be investigating the hack, after photo metadata indicated the majority of the images were taken using Apple devices, leading some to suggest they were taken from iCloud accounts.

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