Posted on 09/03/2014 8:37:26 PM PDT by Swordmaker
An interesting aspect of information security is how periodically it collides with other industries and subcultures. With more information than ever being stored and shared online and on connected devices hacking stories are frequent and are mainstream news. This was the case yesterday as dozens of celebrities fell victim to hackers who leaked hundreds of private photographs and videos stolen from web based storage services.
The summary of the story is that a number of personal and private nude images from high profile celebrities started appearing on online image boards and forums – most notably on anon-ib, 4chan and reddit.
The first pictures were posted nearly a week ago, but didn’t get much attention since they were being ransomed (censored previews being shared in the hope somebody would purchase them). It was only after a number of intermediaries purchased the images and posted complete nudes in public forums that the story exploded.
At least a dozen celebrities were affected by the photo dumps, with over 400 individual images and videos. A list of celebrity names published anonymously, and serving as something akin to a sales brochure, suggests that over 100 have had their personal data compromised.
After this story broke I spent some time immersed in the crazy, obsessive subculture of celebrity nudes and revenge porn trying to work out what they were doing, how they were doing it and what could be learned from it.
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I blame the cloud directly. The cloud is like Vegas casinos - the odds are totally with it. Personal computers were invented to get away from Big Brother. It used to be a "thing" not to be a "terminal." Well hey, all we have to do is call terminals "smartpones" and Big Brother the "cloud" and all of a sudden it's all right?
LOL, no.
But fuggit, it's too late anyway. And people are way too stupid.
Charisma.
I never judge a book by its cover.
Well, almost never.
She can charis with the best; the photos (and, of course, I didn’t peek!) are just frosting on the cake.
Agreed.
And it would be insensitive to take a peek.
On the other hand... those who seek shall find.
Round and round we go. Suffice it to say I don’t have any cloud account (Skydrive, iDrive, etc.) and never will. Too many bad guys looking to steal your stuff.
It is my opinion that the cloud is inherently unsafe and I won’t use it for anything. One less thing to think/worry about.
BUMP! Agree with you 100%.
I assume you mean the sick subculture that deals with this sort of thing. There’s also the sick subculture of those who pose for the pictures.
“Why look at a picture of a slice of bologna when you can have a real steak at home.”
No one seems to be talking about this in the larger media; I guess it doesn't fit the narrative.
Some people don’t have steak, just old beans. That having been said, looking at a picture of a speedboat or a racecar will never give the thrills of the real thing (if you can get one). Better to be a realist and not fantasize, a picture of food won’t satisfy one’s hunger. As for this old fart, beans are just fine.
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