Angelina Jolie among Hollywood stars to have private details leaked online in data breach, cyber-security expert claims

HOLLYWOOD stars including Angelina Jolie have had their contact details exposed in a huge data breach, a cyber-security expert has claimed. Jeremiah Fowler says information such as phone numbers and private email addresses were made publicly accessible online, putting the celebs at risk of being targeted by crooks. Angelina Jolie has had her contact details exposed in a huge data breach, a cyber-security expert has claimed Credit: Getty Sharon Stone has also been a victim of hackers Credit: AFP Mr Fowler, who discovered the leak, claims he saw details for Jolie and Robert De Niro, pictured Credit: EPA Director George Lucas has also been involved Credit: Getty The stars’ personal details were found among a tranche of 666,369 records relating to New York’s annual Tribeca Film Festival, which was launched in 2002 by Hollywood star Robert De Niro. Mr Fowler, who discovered the leak, claims he saw details for Jolie and De Niro. Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter Thank you! Other stars named include British filmmaker Danny Boyle as well as Michael Douglas, Rami Malek, Sharon Stone, Neil Patrick Harris, plus directors George Lucas and Martin Scorsese, Mr Fowler said. The Sun on Sunday approached representatives for all the celebs, but did not receive responses. In May, we revealed that Mr Fowler had identified a leak containing thousands of intimate images of a high-profile British star, as well as details of an affair she was having. But the researcher for US-based firm Black Hills Information Security told The Sun on Sunday that his latest probe resulted in “by far the biggest collection of celebrity data I’ve ever seen”. He added: “There were many, many household names in the records who could have been targeted with ­malware. There were names, phone numbers and email addresses.” Mr Fowler — who believes the leak was down to human error — discovered three exposed databases relating to Tribeca. Most read in Showbiz Most of the records, ranging from 2019 to 2026, were ­marketing materials, such as press releases, stored on a cloud system. But one of the databases had a back-up file which included a folder called “contacts” containing personal information. Mr Fowler said: “It’s really unique because these ­individuals are so guarded and they protect their personal privacy, their contacts, their phone numbers.” It is not clear how long the data had been exposed for. Other stars named include Martin Scorsese Credit: Splash Michael Douglas was named in the leak Credit: Getty But Mr Fowler said he contacted festival chiefs after discovering the breach days before the film festival got under way last month — and the database was removed from public access. On June 4, he received an email from Steven DeLuca, a legal executive at the festival’s parent company Tribeca Enterprises, who told him the organisation was “actively investigating this issue”. Mr Fowler said: “They responded pretty quickly, so it was obvious they knew what it was and that it shouldn’t have been there.” Many of the leaked email addresses used domains such as Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail — which Mr Fowler said is “an indication that these could have been personal email addresses which are not public”. Rami Malek has been impacted Credit: AFP Actor Neil Patrick Harris has also been named Credit: Getty He added: “What was really interesting was that there was a folder that captured their device information based off the email. It would say what version of an iPhone they were using, if they were using Safari, what version of the software they were using. That could give the bad guys a lot of additional information.” If a scammer had a list of their celebrity victim’s personal contacts, they could easily send emails impersonating their friends and family. Mr Fowler explained: “You would already have some level of trust if you reached out to them, and you could say, ‘Hey, here’s that new script I was talking about’, and send them a PDF with malware in it.” Mr Fowler said that “all you would need is an internet connection” to have found the databases — but he does not believe the data was accessed by hackers or scammers. British filmmaker Danny Boyle is also said to have been affected Credit: AP Scammers may have gained access to private data to target celebrities, pictured Jeremiah Fowler Credit: Linked In He said: “Usually, when something has been exposed for a long period of time, you’ll see evidence of ransomware, or criminals will put in an automated ransomware note. “I didn’t see anything like that. It’s possible that other people have seen it and just didn’t see that file.” Tribeca declined to comment. But a source said that while the organisation was “not disputing information was made available”, the “vast majority” of contact details were for managers and agents rather than celebrities themselves”. Comment now