That's probably not too far from reality. One way you can get into an iCloud account: A very significant number of unsophisticated users use the same password for everything and never change it. Many of these same users also use their email address for their user name. One exploit in Internet Explorer (for example) where a hacker gets your password gets them into all of your accounts. Your pictures are either going to be in iCloud or Google Drive depending on your device. Real world example. A few years ago there was an online e-tailer software package that stored passwords in clear text. You could use a hacking technique called "SQL injection" and get it to dump it's entire database of account names and passwords. From there, you just go to other places the user might have an account and mine away. Information security is an oxymoron. Anything and everything stored electronically is vulnerable.
~That’s probably not too far from reality. One way you can get into an iCloud account: A very significant number of unsophisticated users use the same password for everything and never change it. Many of these same users also use their email address for their user name. One exploit in Internet Explorer (for example) where a hacker gets your password gets them into all of your accounts. Your pictures are either going to be in iCloud or Google Drive depending on your device. Real world example. A few years ago there was an online e-tailer software package that stored passwords in clear text. You could use a hacking technique called “SQL injection” and get it to dump it’s entire database of account names and passwords. From there, you just go to other places the user might have an account and mine away. Information security is an oxymoron. Anything and everything stored electronically is vulnerable.~
Get an old laptop without Wi-Fi capabilities, keep it off-line and you can expect your information to be pretty much secure.
Older network systems were pretty much secure by the way, up to Windows NT.
Everything newer is a privacy nightmare to me and it become from bad to worse after broadband Internet access and capable mobile devices become common place.
I don’t know why it took as far as a Snowden scandal to raise awareness.