iCloud

Fourth person sentenced to prison for involvement in 2014 celebrity iCloud hack

Chance Miller | Aug 29 2018 - 4:41 pm PT

Another hacker involved in the 2014 iCloud hack that exposed a number of intimate celebrity photos has been sentenced to prison. As reported by The Guardian, Connecticut resident George Garofano was sentenced to eight months in prison for his role in the hack…

Garofano originally pleaded guilty in April and admitted that he sent phishing emails to the victims, acting as part of Apple online security team to obtain log-in details. Once he had access to the accounts, he accessed numerous photos and pieces of personal information.

While prosecutors argued that Garofano should spend between 10 and 16 months in prison, he instead was sentenced to nine months followed by three years of supervised released.

The prosecution wrote:

“Mr Garofano’s offense was a serious one. He illegally hacked into his victims’ online accounts, invaded their privacy, and stole their personal information, including private and intimate photos. Not only did Mr Garofano keep for himself the photographs he stole, he disseminated them to other individuals. He may have also sold them to others to earn ‘extra income’.”

“In committing this offense, Mr Garofano acted in complete and utter disregard for the impact on his victims’ lives.”

Garofano was charged with illegally hacking iCloud accounts of 240 people, including Hollywood stars and regular users. Garafano worked with three other hackers, all of whom have already been sentenced to between nine and 18 months in prison.

Garofano is the fourth and final person charged with involvement in the iCloud hack to be sentenced.