Last week, the iCloud Hack played a major role in the news. What happened exactly? First of all, iCloud is a server on the internet from Apple, where people can have their own account and where they can make a back up from their own files, like data, photos, videos, music and much more. The problem is that last week many iCloud accounts, mainly from celebrities, were hacked. The hacker stole hundreds of their nude photos and videos and spread and shared it on the internet, on the website 4chan. 4chan has the pictures quickly removed, but there are still plenty of screenshots spread online. Some celebrities said the pictures are fake, but others admit they were theirs. Most celebrities stated they would take legal action.
The big question is; how could this happen? It is unclear who is/are responsible for this hack and how it was possible. Personally, I don’t have an iCloud account. I’m not familiar with it and I think that it is very risky to use those iCloud accounts where you can put your files on, because there are more and more smarter people who can hack. The danger is that all your private files can be hacked and spread over the entire Internet, with the result that all your private data is turned into public data. As long as you don’t upload too private data/photos/videos, I don’t think it’s risky that a hacker would hack your account.
What do you think about the danger and the hack of iCloud? Do you think it’s dangerous to have such an account? And do you have an iCloud account?
Sources:
– http://www.macinaminute.com/what-is-icloud-and-do-i-need-it
– http://bgr.com/2014/09/01/icloud-hack-celebrities-nude-pictures/
– http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/1/6092089/nude-celebrity-hack
Personally, I am also quite interested in this topic. I have an iCloud account since I have an Ipad. but I never really use iCloud to back up my data. In general, I don’t think it is dangerous to have such an account. Besides, if you get an Apple product, you have to have an iCloud account to be able to use it. However, I think most of users lack of knowledge about how to protect their privacy and personal data when they are having an iCloud account. If you turn on your iCloud server, then your data from all your Apple products will be uploaded automatically into iCloud. And when you delete your pictures on your iPhone, your pictures will be still stored in iCloud online. I don’t think every users will be aware of those facts in the first place, which also provides space and chances for hackers to stole their data. Apart from all those iCloud thing, actually all Android Apps are open source as well. App providers will always try to access to users’ private information.In this case, it is also highly possible that your personal data will be hacked by using Android Apps. Anyway, I think the most important thing is that we should be really concerned about our privacy issues. If we don’t want to share something with others, then never put it online in the first place. Also, Google some tips about how to protect your privacy before using different electronic devices is also quite useful. 😀
I think, as long as the internet will exist, it will never be for 100% safe and there will always be hackers active. For that reason, I never share content on iCloud (and other cloud services as Onedrive or others) that are so private that I don’t want that others could ever see it. There is always the risk that there could we a hacker who put everything online.
I think the celebreties where a little bit naive by putting nude pictures on their iCloud account. My advice is to never put pictures like that or other private information in a cloud service untill it’s 100% safe (and I think it will never be 100% safe).
Personally, I don’t have an iCloud account, even though I use Apple products on a daily basis. I knew about iCloud before, however I have never felt the need to explore the features of this platform.
I think one of the reasons for me not being having the account is the fact that I am trying to avoid being “too public”. I stick to the baic Social Media platforms like Facebook. I do not even have Instagram because in my opinion it would violate my privacy to an extent that is not acceptable for me.
In my opinion, Social Media benefit us in many areas of life making it simply easier. However, we should also bear in mind that they consume our energy and might have an impact on privacy breach, just like in the example above.
Internet never was and never will be able to protect our personal data. It has not been safe enough and there always be a way for a hacker to get the access to people’s lives.
With the development of the Big Data and Social Commerce, there will also be an increasing number of online threats and dangers. Therefore, we should also make users aware of not only numerous benefits of the trend but also the drawbacks that this progress creates.
I believe that as long as users will carefully select the private contents that they publish online, no significant threats or consequences will occur.