Short Bytes: It looks like the much talked about Fappening 2.0 leaks are over. Following the footsteps of original leaks, Fappening 2.0 targeted high profile celebrities like Emma Watson, Amanda Seyfried, Kylie Jenner, etc. While the exact forces behind the leaks are unknown, it would be safe to assume that techniques like phishing were used to access the pictures and videos. Fossbytes hopes that the Fappening 2.0 saga is over and it’ll inspire us to follow better security practices.
What is Fappening 2.0?
Three years ago, the original Fappening attack took place, which targeted high-profile celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna, and Scarlet Johansson. The other popular celebrities were Ariana Grande, Jill Scott, Hope Solo, Gabrielle Union, Kirsten Dunst, Kaley Cuoco, Kate Upton, Victoria Justice, McKayla Maroney, Hillary Duff, Jenny McCarthy, Kim Kardashian, and others.
This was followed by another leak that was widely reported as The Fappening 2.0. While it didn’t match the scale of the first leak, the possibly similar hacking methodology and hype helped it earned this name.
This leak also raises the questions — Are two Fappening leaks connected? Who’s leaking the images if the Fappening hacker Ryan Collins was arrested by the federal government?
Well, there’s no proof that both the hacks are connected in any manner. It could be the work of another hacker who operated independently of Fappening 1.0 hackers. But, we can’t say anything with guaranty at the moment.
Fappening 2.0 1st wave:
The first and biggest wave of Fappening 2.0 affected high-profile celebrities like Emma Watson, Amanda Seyfried, Kylie Jenner, Marisa Tomei, and others. The private pictures of these celebrities were uploaded on online forums like 4chan and Reddit.
The legal representatives of Emma Watson and Amanda Seyfried said that they will take appropriate steps to protect and enforce their client’s rights.
Fappening 2.0 2nd wave:
After the initial leaks, the next additions to the list of celebrities were WWE star Paige, actress Dylan Penn, and Arrow star Katie Cassidy. This dump surfaced on 4chan and it was soon spread on Reddit and other online forums.
The other celebrities who became a target of Fappening 2.0’s second wave were Rose McGowan, Rhona Mitra, Analeigh Tipton, Trieste Kelly Dunn, Lili Simmons, Iliza Shlesinger, and April Love Geary.
Fappening 2.0 3rd wave:
The third wave of Fappening 2.0 leaked private pictures and videos of WWE diva Kaitlyn, model Lacey Banghard, The Walking Dead actress Lauren Cohen, US cosplayer Jessica Nigri, and Holly Willoughby.
In an email sent to Fossbytes, a representative for Lauren said that the person in the video wasn’t Lauren Cohan.
The most recent development in Fappening 2.0 was a rumor that claimed that a new Britney Spears sex tape had leaked. Well, that rumor was soon debunked.
How to protect yourself from incidents like Fappening?
Here are some points that one should always keep in mind to avoid leaks like Fappening 2.0:
- Turn off auto-upload if you use cloud-based services. If you upload your files somewhere on the cloud, make sure that the service provides encryption.
- Enable two-step verification authentication for your online accounts.
- Ignore and report emails/messages that ask for passwords, credit card number, or other personal information. It’s called phishing.
- Use strong passwords for online accounts and electronic devices and keep changing them from time-to-time. Also, never use the same password for accessing all services
- If you’ve to click a private picture that you don’t wish to make public (it’s safer to avoid it), it’s advised turn on the Airplane mode and transfer it to someplace safe. After that, erase it completely from your device before going online. Please note that erasing and deleting are two different things.
- Stay updated with latest security developments.
We hope that the Fappening 2.0 leaks are over and they’ll inspire everybody to follow better security practices.
