Hackers have managed to gain access to a number of women's private, nude photos on Photobucket, then posted in public Web forums.
An entire thread on Reddit is devoted to posting X-rated pics stolen from Photobucket, an online photo-hosting platform. Some pose in underwear or completely nude, some hide their faces while others stare directly into the camera — but none intended to share the photos.
Unbelievably, another thread takes requests. Reddit users post names of girls whose private photos they want to see.
Skilled hackers are bypassing Photobucket's security settings and scouring for naked photos users wanted to keep private. They use software to retrieve the hidden snaps, a disturbing trend known as "fusking."
Photobucket users have the option of making their albums or individual photos private, but every single photo still has its own URL.
The image title is part of the URL, and even if the URL is private, the title isn’t hard to find.
For example, if a user has an image titled IMG_03 that is made public, they likely have an IMG_04, even if it’s not public. Frisking programs essentially speed up the guessing process and produce URLs for someone’s hidden photos, something like: http://www.photobucket/com/image/username/IMG_04.jpg.
Photobucket says it’s aware of fusking and provides a URL scrambling service that makes photos harder to hack.
“Scrambled URLs have been an option for the past two years and will be the default for all new uploads,” Photobucket spokesman David Toner said. “The company is in the process of reminding users about the option to scramble URLs to prevent fusking.”
Toner added that the breach of privacy is “very rare” and said it has “only affected a small number of Photobucket’s users.”
Experts say the best way to avoid starring in your own X-rated Reddit show is to keep nude photos off the Internet altogether — private or not.
“Privacy settings on social media sites just can’t keep up with how fast technology is adapting,” social media attorney Ethan Wall said
“As sites get more private, hackers and people who want to get more information will continue to get more sophisticated.”Wall added.
