Hollywood Celebrity Hacker Sent to Jail

The American who hacked the e-mail accounts of Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis, Christina Aguilera and some 50 other celebrities was sent to prison for 10 years.

US District Judge S James Otero sentenced 35-year old Christopher Chaney, of Florida, USA for wiretapping and illegally accessing computers of more than 50 high-profile Hollywood celebrities.

The federal Judge in Los Angeles, California stated for the Associated Press that “these types of crimes are as pernicious and serious as physical stalking.”

The hacker became the center of attention when he decided to post on the internet some nude photos of actress Scarlett Johansson. Apparently those photos had been taken by the celebrity herself and meant solely for the eyes of Ryan Reynolds, her husband at that time.

Chaney would hack into the e-mail accounts of the victims, use the “forgot password” feature and answer the security question by using publicly available information posted by the victims on social networking platforms to reset their passwords. Once he accessed their accounts, he activated the “forward a copy of incoming mail” option to help him continue to receive private messages even if the victims changed their passwords back.

Despite the fact that Chaney pleaded guilty and the prosecution aimed at six years imprisonment, the hacker received a much more drastic sentence, apparently because he continued his illegal activities after the investigation started and his computer got confiscated.

The hacker shared the nude photos, scripts, contact lists, text messages and e-mails with online celebrity gossip websites ” sites that were never asked to take responsibility for using the illegally-procured materials.

Source: BBC.