Scarlett Johansson Leaked Photos: Man Who Hacked Nude Pics to Appear in Court
The man charged with allegedly hacking into the email accounts of celebrities, including Scarlett Johansson, is scheduled to appear in a California courtroom Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
Christopher Chaney, 35, of Jacksonville, Fla., was indicted last month following a series of reports of celebrities whose privacy were violated when their electronic files were breached.
He was charged with 26 counts, including unauthorized access to a computer and wiretapping. If convicted, he faces up to 121 years in prison.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Chaney was arrested by authorities following a yearlong investigation into what appeared to be an epidemic of celebrity hacking.
Following claims that Johansson’s photographs had been stolen, the FBI had indicated that they were close to indentifying the individuals responsible for the online theft.
According to TMZ, authorities believe hackers have hacked into the phones of more than 50 celebrities, including Vanessa Hudgens, Jessica Alba, Lindsey Vonn, Ali Larter, and Emma Caulfield.
Chaney is charged with utilizing available public data of celebrities to guesstimate security questions and passwords for celebrity accounts.
He is reported to have redirected emails of victims to accounts he controlled and copied their information.
According to the AP, numerous private photos of celebrities, as well as other personal documents, were found on Chaney’s hard drive.
Chaney, who is free on $10,000 bond, has apologized for his behavior.
Chaney may have also stalked a Connecticut woman online for over a decade, according to authorities.
The accused hacker is reported to have offered some hacking material to celebrity blog sites, but there is no definitive proof that he might have benefitted financially from his activities, according to authorities.
Along with the news of celebrity hacking, the issue of the hacking of private individual online accounts has also recently exploded into the headlines over reports that British newspaper News of the World frequently hacked into the telephone voicemail of celebrities and politicians in order to gain an advantage in its reporting of news stories.
