The FBI reportedly is hunting for a hacking ring suspected of targeting female celebrities and stealing photos and videos from their computers and smartphones.
Some 50 celebrities are said to have been victimized. Gossip website TMZ has listed Vanessa Hudgens, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Alba, Christina Aguilera and Renee Olstead as among the targets of the alleged hackers.
Contacted by AOL News, the FBI said it could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation into the hacking ring. According to TMZ, law enforcement sources have said they believe a single individual -- a ringleader -- is responsible for the mass hacking and that the individual has been shopping around nude photos of various celebrities.
But how is this alleged hacker ring getting at the celebrities in the first place? According to an expert AOL News spoke with, it depends on the type of device the hacker is going after.
"If they are targeting the cell phone, there are a couple ways they could be going about it," said Steven M. Abrams, an attorney and chief computer forensics examiner at Abrams Forensics.
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"I would say, overall for celebrities, it is always a good idea not to put anything on any of your devices that you wouldn't want to read on the front page of a newspaper tomorrow," Abrams said. MORE AT -
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/20/celebrity-phone-hacking-101-and-how-to-prevent-it/I point this out, as a caution in "Weinergate".