Hacker leaks dozens of nude celebrity pics in alleged iCloud hack

According to a new report from Mashable, a major trove of celebrity images which said to belong to actress Jennifer Lawrence nude, began spreading all over the web and Twitter on Sunday evening. The pictures were allegedly retrieved through a vulnerability in Apple’s iCloud service, which allowed the celebrities’ phones to be hacked. Thus far, no one has confirmed that iCloud was actually breached, and few details are known about the attack, or the attacker.

Many of the celebrities named in the leak have taken to Twitter to comment on the matter. Some of them, such as Victoria Justice, are disputing the authenticity of the photos, while others, including Jennifer Lawrence (well, her PR agent), have confirmed their legitimacy.

When contacted by Mashable, a spokesperson for Jennifer Lawrence issued the following statement:

This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.

Again, it hasn’t been established that this was the result of an iCloud hack. In a comment, actress Mary Elizabeth said “knowing those photos were deleted long ago, I can only imagine the creepy effort that went into this,” suggesting this may have not been the case.