Authorities are searching for the person who hacked into nude photos of celebrities. INSIDE EDITION reports on how it happened and how you can protect yourself.
Were nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and other celebs circulating for weeks in the dark corners of the web?
Timothy Burke, a reporter for the website Deadspin.com, says on August 19 a hacker offered nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence for $5,000.
Burke told INSIDE EDITION, "The rumors have existed for a long time about the existence of this shadowy kabal of people who are extremely wealthy and able to get their hands on pretty much anything they want. In this case that would be exclusive nude photos of celebrities."
The scandal is an echo of the recent Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel movie Sex Tape in which a couple's sex tape is accidentally uploaded to the cloud.
Could it happen to you?
Computer security expert John Lucich says most people don't know that photos and other data on their iPhones are automatically stored in the cloud and could be vulnerable.
Lucich told INSIDE EDITION, "You think you're deleting files or pictures off your computer or cell phone, but they're not being deleted from the cloud."
But he showed INSIDE EDITION a simple way to fix that and stop photos from being automatically stored in the cloud.
"You go to Settings, you go to iCloud. Then, you scroll down to where it says Photos, and it says 'Automatically upload new photos and send them to all iCloud devices.' You just turn that off," explained Lucich.
Meanwhile, the uproar in Hollywood over the hacking scandal continues today.
Pop singer Ariana Grande is claiming that graphic photos of her are fake.
But a spokesman for Jennifer Lawrence confirmed the naked photos are of the Oscar winner, saying: "This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities will prosecute anyone who posts stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence."
Kirsten Dunst, another of the celebrity targets, sarcastically tweeted: "Thank you iCloud."
And as TV's The Talk is ready to kick off its new season, co-hosts Julie Chen and Aisha Tyler say the scandal is something that everyone's talking about.
Chen told INSIDE EDITION, "Nothing is private today. Not that these actresses deserve to have their private photos seen by eyeballs not intended when they took the photos. But, it's a lesson to every young person out there."
Tyler said, "Every time you send anything, take anything, email anything, think, 'How would I feel if this went onto the internet?' "
Girls star Lena Dunham is pleading with people not to look at nude photos of the 100 celebrity victims.
"Seriously, do not forget that the person who stole these pictures and leaked them is not a hacker. They're a sex offender," she said.
But, Ricky Gervais is coming under fire for his reaction to the scandal. He tweeted: "Celebrities, make it harder for hackers to get nude pictures of you from your computer by not putting nude pictures of yourself on your computer."
After he was accused of blaming the victims he backtracked, posting: "Of course the hackers are 100% to blame but you can still make jokes about it."
But to the 100 or more victims, it's no laughing matter.
