Pierluigi Paganini
September 01, 2018
The sentence for the fourth hacker involved in the leakage of celebrities naked photos, also known as the Fappening case, has arrived. George Garofano, 26, of North Branford, has been sentenced to eight months in prison, he was charged earlier this year with hacking into over 250 Apple iCloud accounts belonging to Hollywood celebrities.
As part of the Fappening case, nude pictures of many celebrities were leaked online, the list of victims is long and includes Kim Kardashian, Kate Upton, and Jennifer Lawrence.
Garofano had been arrested by the FBI and a federal court has accused him of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
From April 2013 through October 2014, Garofano used phishing attacks against the victims to obtain their iCloud accounts credentials, access the accounts and steal personal information, including private photographs and videos.
Garofano also traded the stolen credentials, as well as the information he stole from the victims’ accounts, with other individuals.
In a plea agreement signed in January in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Garofano agreed to plead guilty to one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information.
Prosecutors requested for the man a sentence of at least 10 to 16 months in prison, while his advocate requested a sentence of no more than ten months, the half of which to under home arrest.
The final decision of a judge at the US district court in Bridgeport sentenced Garofano to 8 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release after his prison term is over.
“John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that GEORGE GAROFANO, 26, of North Branford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to eight months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for engaging in a phishing scheme that gave him illegal access to more than 200 Apple iCloud accounts, many of which belonged to members of the entertainment industry.” reads the press release published by the Department of Justice.
“GAROFANO, who is released on a $50,000 bond, was ordered to report to prison on October 10, 2018. Judge Bolden ordered GAROFANO to perform 60 hours of community service while on supervised release.”
The other hackers involved in the Fappening case are, Edward Majerczyk, Ryan Collins, and Emilio Herrera, the latter is still awaiting his sentencing.
Garofano was the only one that traded the stolen iCloud credentials and the celebrities naked photos.
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(Security Affairs – Fappening, celebrities naked photos)
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