The notorious 2014 “Leak” of private, nude photos of female celebrities dubbed "TheFappening" has left us all wondering how secure our online data really is. Compromising pictures and personal information of high-profile stars were suddenly available to the public via 4Chan, Reddit and other uploads sites; the scandal highlighted massive data privacy concerns worldwide. What we now know happened was that hackers used stolen Apple iCloud credentials to access the accounts of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and 100 other celebrities. In what showed as a systematic infiltration into Apple's cloud storage facility, Christopher Chaney (who's received a 10-year sentence for his actions) even bragged about his “success” on Twitter claiming he had hacked Scarlett Johansson’s mobile phone more than 50 times. Back in 2014, users thought their Apple devices were safe from cyberattacks - but this leak showed otherwise. The huge stigma around such an incident meant hundreds of victims felt uncomfortable and violated. No one knew what kind of attention they would receive from internet trolls or how their privacy can be infringed upon by misguided individuals with malicious intent. This event also had an impact on Apple's reputation; unsurprisingly they suffered a serious blow to their credibility and trustworthiness among consumers - something they worked hard to regain through statement released shortly after with instructions on how users could improve the security of their iCloud accounts moving forward. Even with further proof that Chaney acted alone and not as part of some large-scale attack intended to embarrass celebrities exclusively launched against Apple, paranoia still remains today when it comes to cloud storage providers. It goes without saying that the incident changed many people’s understanding of online privacy, including just how easily our private data can be miss-used if accessed by malicious actors on the web. One should always be mindful in choosing which devices and systems can store sensitive information; check for potential vulnerabilities, keep tabs on security patches that are regularly issued by companies who maintain them and always use strong passwords! Those steps will guard you from a lot of preventable threats out there – let this be a reminder that technology advances every day ... but being cautious never goes amiss when protecting your digital life!
