Jennifer Lawrence was one of the hacker's many female celebrity victims. Juan Naharro Gimenez/ Getty Images
The hacker who obtained access tothe Apple and Google accounts of more than 100well-known celebrities ― including Jennifer Lawrence and Rihanna ― has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, the Guardian reported .
Ryan Collins, a36-year-old from Pennsylvania,tricked his victimsby sending them fake Apple or Google emails asking them to provide their username and passwords. He accessed more than 100 accounts, many belonging tofemale celebrities.
However, it appears that Collins might not be "OriginalGuy," the 4Chan user who dumped his massive collection of nude celebrity photos online in August 2014, causing mayhem. That person remains unidentified.
Collins sometimesused a software program to download the Apple iCloud backups on his victims' accounts, the US Attorney office said. Investigators identified over 600 victims in total ― Collins also ran a modeling scam where he got victims to send him nude photos directly.
The sentencing comes after a two yearinvestigation by the FBI which began following a particular online postthat became known as "Celebgate" ―a collection of almost 500 private pictures of over 100 mostly-female celebrities― on the internet forum 4chan. Victims includedAvril Lavigne, Kim Kardashian, Kirsten Dunst, Aubrey Plaza, Winona Ryder ― as well asJennifer Lawrence and Rihanna.
However, the US Attorney said: "investigatorshave not uncovered any evidence linking Collins to the actual leaks [in Celebgate] or that Collins shared or uploaded the information he obtained".He was sentenced for his sophisticated schemeto obtain usersnames and passwords ― which officials said he engaged in from November 2012 until the beginning of September 2014. The official conviction was on"felony violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act".
Collins pleadedguilty to thecomputer hackingfelony back in May, on one count of "unauthorised access to a protected computer to obtain information". Illinois man Edward Majerczyck, 28, also pleaded guilty to the same felony , months later. Like Collins, federal authorities said they had foundno evidence linking him to actual public circulation of any of the photos to which he gained access.
