Celebgate - is suing Google the right move?

In the continuing celebrity nude photo scandal (dubbed "Celebgate" by the press) involving Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and Ariana Grande among others…

Earlier this week, celebrity lawyer Martin Singer threatened to sue Google for $100 million in damages on behalf of his clients, which he says represent more than a dozen of the women targeted in the hack. The indictment claims that Google did not “act expeditiously and responsibly to remove” images stolen in the attack on celebrity iCloud accounts.

But if the hack occurred due to holes in Apple’s own security structure, why sue Google instead of Apple? 

In the days following the hack, Apple quickly instituted a “fix” to its password protection system. It is believed that the iCloud was able to be broken into by hackers running programs that can test thousands of passwords each minute. This kind of attack can be hindered by limiting the number of times a user can try to log in. 

Increased volume on its site from users trying to find sites posting the nude photos certainly helps Google's paid search and advertising revenue. But is Singer's claim that “Google is making millions and profiting from the victimization of women" going too far? 
 

Google told CNET that “We’ve removed tens of thousands of pictures –within hours of the requests being made – and we have closed hundreds of accounts. The Internet is used for many good things. Stealing people’s private photos is not one of them.”

Whether or not you believe Google should be penalized for the attack, the debate forces us to consider what we laypeople can do to protect our own cloud-based data (nude pictures or not). 

Some quick tips from CNET:

1. Enable 2-step verification.

2. Disable any services you don’t actually use.

3. Consider using fake answers to security questions.

4. Do the same thing for other web services.