Apple has admitted that hackers breached into celeb accounts, but denied that their iCloud system wasn't breached.
The company said that thieves stole celebrity photos from Apple accounts by targeting individuals, rather than by breaking into the company's infrastructure, Washington Times reported.
According to the official statement, after more than 40 hours of investigation, they found 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 suggests that nude images of several female celebrities taken in personal settings were stolen as a result of what's known as "social engineering" or "spear-phishing" attacks, in which, hackers specifically target an individual user and attempt to trick account holders into giving up their passwords and usernames to break into an account.
The American multinational corporation stressed that there's no indication that average iCloud users are at risk, but the company recommends that users always use strong passwords and use two-step verification.