Scarlett Johansson Leaked Photos 2011: Phone Hacker Arrested
The suspect behind the celebrity phone hacking scandal, that included the release of private pictures of actresses Scarlett Johansson and Vanessa Hudgens, has been arrested by the FBI Wednesday.
Christopher Chaney, 35, of Jacksonville, Fla., was working alone and didn’t make any money off the photos. He instead did it for the thrill, according to the FBI.
Chaney has been involved with the scandals since 2010.
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Sources told TMZ, “…the man hacked into numerous celebrity phones and then distributed the ill-gotten photos to third parties, never asking for any money. He did it because he got a charge out of it.”
The FBI stated they had known about Chaney for a few months, but waited until now to take action, under the U.S. Attorney’s orders.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Chaney was able to access nude photos of some of the celebrities and some of them were uploaded on the Internet," U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said, CNN wrote.
When Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis were hacked last month the FBI initially was not able to confirm the victims or any details on the story.
A representative however released this statement, "investigating the person or group responsible for computer intrusions of high-profile figures, but due to it being an ongoing investigation, we're not at liberty to confirm specific victims or the number of victims."
Law enforcement sources told TMZ the operation was named “Operation Hackerazzi.”
The FBI initially assumed the world’s biggest hackers, Anonymous and LulzSec, were involved – being these groups have claimed they cracked government and bank websites.
However, it turned out the groups were not involved.
"It's obviously to gain media exposure, right?" said Kevin Mitnick, a former hacker who is now a security consultant and author of Ghost in the Wires.
"It's like everyone is trying to one-up Anonymous and one-up LulzSec. So somehow celebrities are becoming a target," said Mitnick.
The first celebrity hacked was Paris Hilton in 2005.
Other victims of the celebrity hacker included: Ali Larter, Jessica Alba, Demi Lovato, Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Busy Philipps, Renee Olstead, Addison Timlin and Emma Caulfield.
