Operation Hackerazzi: How Did Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis Get Hacked?

Last week Christopher Chaney was arrested for allegedly hacking, and leaking naked pictures, of celebrities like Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis. But Chaney isn’t some computer mastermind. He’s just a guy with a lot of spare time on his hands. As it turns out, hacking a celebrity account is relatively easy.

When someone chooses a password they usually choose something like their mother’s maiden name or a childhood pet. That information may be somewhat secretive for the everyday person, but there is so much celebrity content on the internet that finding out the name of Scarlett Johansson’s dog is probably just a few clicks away.

CNET correspondent Declan McCullagh told Fablife:

“How do I find your mother’s maiden name, or how do you find my mother’s maiden name? Not easily. But for Scarlett Johansson, I can just look at Wikipedia. Do I know your pet’s name? No, and you probably can’t find it online. But Mila Kunis might have her pet’s name mentioned in a magazine profile.”

Chaney allegedly hacked into the accounts of Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis, Christina Aguilera, and a dozen other celebrities, by using Yahoo’s, Gmail’s, and Apple’s password recovery feature. He just collected the right information off the internet and was able to answer the questions correctly.

“It started as curiosity and it turned into just being, you know, addicted to seeing the behind-the-scenes of what’s going on with these people you see on the big screen every day. I was almost relieved months ago when [the authorities] came in and took the computers… because I didn’t know how to stop doing it myself.”

McCullagh recommends that people, especially celebrities, use random passwords like two unrelated words from the dictionary. And as far as nude pictures go… keeping them on an online account or on your phone is probably not the best idea.

Do you think celebrities will start tightening up their online security?