iCloud hacker perv cops nearly 3 years in jail for stealing and sharing people's private, intimate pics

A perv who reportedly hacked people's iCloud accounts to obtain sexual images before sharing them online has been sent to prison for nearly three years. Tony Spencer of Victoria Hill, Eye, Suffolk, was found by Basildon Crown Court to have "accessed iCloud accounts without the owners' consent" by using "software", according to …

[Chris G]

Months rather than years

It does sound as though guidelines are needed for sentencing, also to determine the harms done to victims which would play a part in the sentencing.

[Pascal Monett]

Oh for Heaven's sake, people

Yes he was a pervert and no, he definitely shouldn't have done it, but for Christ' sake stop posting your intimacy on someone else's server !

[Ima Ballsy]

Re: Oh for Heaven's sake, people

I agree !!! Use something Secure like Amazon Drive or Google Drive or MS Onedrive !!!!!

Getting my hat now ....

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Oh for Heaven's sake, people

I use Pornhub for storing all my intimate videos - it has the advantage or allowing multiple people to check that there is no corruption.

OK....in theory they could check. It's still on zero views. And religious charities have contacted me regarding helping them with material for encouraging abstinence...

[The Nazz]

Re: Oh for Heaven's sake, people

I agree re servers, and barely consider that aspect as requiring jail time, BUT ....

the article also mentions material obtained from the local leisure centre, which i would imagine would be the reason for the bulk of the 32 month sentence.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hack?

Did he actually "hack" into the iCloud accounts (i.e. using some security vulnerability or bug), or did he just obtain the users passwords (through social engineering or credential stuffing) and simply "log-in"? The fact that 2FA thwarted his efforts suggests the latter...

I always wonder in what context the word "hack" is being used in these kind of news stories.

[Maverick]

Re: Hack?

hack is ALWAYS misused

[jake]

Re: Hack?

A "hack" is another name for a Journalist, so they simply must be using it right!

I think I'll take the side-hack over to our Petaluma barn and hack one of the horses up the hill to where I'm hacking a Red Tail hawk ...

[Captain Scarlet]

Re: Hack?

They are using software so I would either class them as a Cracker or Script Kiddie

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm willing to bet

He used one of those dump files with millions of email/passwords from some site that has been exploited (there have been a few Reg articles about them even IIRC) and trying those on iCloud. Plenty of people use the same email/password everywhere, he'd have more iCloud accounts to login to than he could look at in a lifetime of voyeurism.

[Anonymous Coward]

Do maths much Gareth?

Four years. Nearly four years. 32 months.

Last time I checked, there were 12 months in a year, so his sentence was "nearly three years" and not four or nearly four.

[Anonymous Coward]

My comment was correct at the time

but it appears that the article has now been quietly corrected.

[DJV]

by using "software"

Oh noes! I uses software! Expects plod to burst through the doors and windows at any moment!

[The Nazz]

Re: by using "software"

Isn't it when the software turns into hardware that the main problems start?

[Anonymous Coward]

Technically,

he'll be "subject to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act 2003" for "an indefinite period". There's no such thing as the "Sex Offenders' Register" in the UK - that name is borrowed from the insane system in the USA: the UK's system doesn't allow anyone to be looked up on any kind of list and hunted down by vigilantes, and it doesn't prevent anyone from doing anything in particular, it just means they have to "notify" the police of various things like their address. And nobody can be ordered to be on this so-called register for life; people can apply to come off it after behaving themselves for a while. Furthermore, he'll almost certainly only spend 16 of his 32 months actually in prison. It bugs me that the media so often report these things sloppily. I thought the Reg would know better... but I fully expect this comment to be rejected.