Where Did Sadie Sink Private Photos Allegedly Leak From?

This is really terrible. News of alleged leaks of private photos of actress been hitting the Internet today. Multiple sources have reported that the photos apparently originated from cloud storage tied to her accounts, most of them citing iCloud. These types of breaches are happening to celebrities who have backups of their photos on their devices, and those are getting hacked through various methods of account compromise, phishing, or via password cracking through so-called “credential stuffing”. I wanted to emphasize that in all reports I read today, these are allegedly leaked photos, and so far, no word of confirmation from the actress’s team.

By reading about this online, it was clear to me how online harm is treated by the internet as a means to get clicks and get people to read more online content instead of trying to help the person online who was affected by such harm. As someone who is protective of others online, I found this story to be very icky. Yes, she is a celebrity and therefore in the public eye but that does not mean that she deserves to have her private photos and information shared online against her will. I hope that she and anyone else who has been a victim of online harm can find a way to heal from their online trauma in a stable way and that those reporting online are reporting it with as much respect as possible. Also, I hope that everyone reading this online will check their backups and make sure that they are using two-factor authentication online as well.

My coverage is slightly grittier and more investigative than the usual rumors. Multiple outlets report that a cloud compromise is behind the alleged leak of naked photos, naming iCloud again and again as the service where the alleged hack occurred. I tried to stick to the reporting and add the words “alleged” or “reported” wherever appropriate, since a lot of what is being leaked consists of private photos and in many places distributing such images could have legal consequences for the distributor.

From a privacy and security perspective, this type of leak highlights two key points: the importance of strong, unique passwords and how multi-factor authentication can further protect users’ accounts. And, most importantly, how a tech platform can better protect its users before a breach occurs and how they can detect a breach before all of a user’s data is stolen. Reading various articles in the press has also sparked a lot of discussion regarding the role of the media in these types of situations and how publishing graphic details of private individuals only serves to further harm and embarrass them and those around them. I get frustrated thinking about the invasion of privacy that has occurred, yet at the same time I hope that people learn from this situation and ways that online privacy can be protected are explored and implemented.

This covers appear to have been pulled from an individual’s cloud storage account, allegedly an iCloud account. The claim that the photos came from an account that had been compromised to access cloud synced backups is as of yet unconfirmed by representatives for the coverage in question, however it appears to be the claim that journalists following the story are going with, which for now we should treat with the same skepticism as the allegation itself.

On a personal level, I really wanted to ensure my own accounts were secure and remind my friends to enable 2-step authentication where possible. Frustrating that people’s most private moments are being trampled but I hope those affected are receiving the support they need and that in the longer term social media can become a more secure place for all of us. I felt a mix of annoyance and increased security consciousness whilst following this story.