The hacker behind the celebgate has met his fate with the law or so it seems. A Pennsylvania based hacker has pleaded guilty on Tuesday, May 24, to illegally hacking into the Apple and Google accounts of several female celebrities and stealing their private photos, videos and information. Ryan Collins, 36, was accused of gaining access to more than 100 online accounts between November 2012 and September 2014. According to the Associated Press, he pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to “gaining unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information.” According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Collins engaged in a phishing scheme to obtain usernames and passwords for his victims over a two-year period beginning in November 2012. He sent emails to victims that appeared to be from Apple or Google and asked victims to provide their usernames and passwords. When the victims responded, Collins then had access to the victims’ email accounts. After illegally accessing the accounts, Collins obtained personal information including nude photographs and videos. In some instances, Collins would use a software program to download the entire contents of the victims’ Apple iCloud backups. Many of the accounts that Collins hacked into belonged to famous women, including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Gabrielle Union. Several of the photos investigated were leaked onto the Internet, but prosecutors said that Collins was “not suspected of being involved in releasing those images,” according to the AP. The photos first started appearing online in September 2014, and the incident later became known as “celebgate” aka “fappening“. The celebrities whose photos were leaked were not identified as a result of a plea agreement in March. Collins is expected to appear for sentencing in a federal court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, according to the Los Angeles Times. A date has yet to be set.
