Adele Latest Celeb to Be Hacked, With Private Photos Online A fan alerted the singer's management team after personal photos were posted in a closed Facebook group.

By Valentina Zarya

This story originally appeared on Fortune Magazine

Kevin Winter—Getty Images
Adele

Over the weekend, it was discovered that Adele has been the victim of a major security breach.

The "Hello" singer's personal photos -- including a sonogram of her son Angelo -- were found on a closed Facebook group for Adele fans, reports The Sun. One of the group's members reported the photos to the pop star's management team and talked to the publication about the decision.

"I think it is disgusting that her so-called fans were sending them around and I thought it should be stopped. They are way too private, especially the scan and picture of her when she was pregnant," the whistle-blower said.

Tim Erlin, director of IT security and risk strategy at security firm Tripwire, said in an emailed statement to Fortune: "This isn't the first time we've seen celebrity photos as the target of a cyber attack, and it likely won't be the last. With the way that devices and services are interconnected today, it can be difficult to understand which data is shared with others or with third parties. Any time data, including photos, leaves your device, it's put at greater risk."

The hacker is believed to have retrieved the photos through the email of Adele's boyfriend, Simon Konecki, which Erlin says is a security risk in and of itself. "When you share data with others, whether via an app or email, you're implicitly putting trust in their security. Even if you've chosen a strong password and kept it secret, that other person may not have been so diligent."

It's likely that this isn't the last that we'll be hearing about this issue, as Adele is notoriously private, particularly when it comes to her son. In 2014, she brought a lawsuit against a photo agency for its collection of Angelo's "milestone moments."

Wavy Line
Valentina Zarya is an associate editor at Fortune Magazine.

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