Apple denies iCloud system flaw in celebrity photo leak

Apple has released a statement defending its iCloud system, and saying the recent celebrity photo leak was not a result of any breach in the system.

Instead, the company said in the statement released on Tuesday (September 2), "After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet."

The statement goes on to offer advice on avoiding such attacks, "We advise all users to always use a strong password and enable two-step verification."

Nude photos of a number of female celebrities including Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence appeared on various websites over the weekend.

According to Techcrunch.com, Lawrence was once quoted in a Time article about her email address containing a keyword.

Reports suggested that the photo leak could stem from a bug in the iCloud service that allowed potential hackers to try an unlimited number of passwords until they stumble upon the correct one.

Apple responded that there is a limit on the number of incorrect passwords an iCloud user can enter before the system locks the account. However, the company declined to specify the exact number of incorrect attempts.

The FBI is now investigating the photo leak.

Apple introduced the iCloud storage service in 2011. The service allows users to store data such as music and photos on remote servers for download to multiple devices.