In Hollywood, the hacking of celebrity e-mail accounts had fascinated insiders for months before a Florida man was recently arrested in the case. Many thought that the hacking was the result of a plan to blackmail the victimized celebs, or that there was otherwise some financial motivation behind the intrusion. As it turns out, however, the man who broke into the accounts of Scarlett Johansson, Christina Aguilera and Mila Kunis, among others, was doing it simply because he’s obsessed with the celebrities.
Perhaps even more unusual, the man behind the attacks lives nowhere near Hollywood, California and has no real insider knowledge of the industry. Instead, he is 35-year-old Christopher Chaney, a Florida man who worked from a home computer to infiltrate the private lives of the stars and who has brought about a coining of the term "hackerrazzi" by police working the case. Chaney meticulously read articles about the celebrities, as well as their personal social media posts, in order to determine potential passwords for their accounts.
After determining passwords, Chaney had access not just to messages that the celebs had sent, but images and video that had been saved within the context of their e-mail messages. Said Edward Lozzi, a publicist in Beverly Hills, "There is so much information about celebrities now out there. Entertainment shows discuss celebrities’ birthdays and their kids’ names. Wikipedia and imdb.com are playing grounds for these hackers seeking information. It’s a tough balance between publicity and private information for a celebrity in the Internet age." Indeed, it is, and if that wasn’t a known fact of life for celebrities before this case, it certainly will be now.
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