The Alleged Leak
In late February, reports emerged alleging content belonging to the London-based adult entertainment site, Only Fans, had been leaked online. OnlyFans provides influencers, models and even public figures a platform from which to share content on a premium pay model. The reports alleged that up to 4 terabytes of OnlyFans content had been leaked online. The content included photos and videos from mainly female content creators.
OnlyFans Denied being Victim of Cyberattack
Soon after the appearance of the reports, OnlyFans put out a statement denying having suffered a cyberattack. The company stated that it had investigated the reports and could not find any evidence of a breach of its systems. According to OnlyFans’ head of marketing, Steve Pym, the leaked files appeared to “be curated from multiple sources, including other social media applications.” It now seems likely that instead of a hack, the leak was the result of OnlyFans customers buying individual content items and then sharing them with others. This was accomplished by compiling content into a large file that was being shared for free. These findings corroborate OnlyFans’ assertion that its systems had not been breached. Nonetheless, the incident highlights the fact that OnlyFans’s distribution model contains sizable security holes. Since content can be copied from the site, it can then be shared illegally elsewhere, depriving content creators of revenue. Most photo and video platforms face such issues. However, many take precautions such as blocking screenshots and recordings.
OnlyFans Content for Sale Illegally
The OnlyFans content is now being sold on demand on a hacker forum. The vendor is selling the content at varying prices depending on the popularity of the model. Buyers can purchase the content either with Bitcoin or through PayPal for just $5 to $12 per content item. Once the payment is processed, the buyers receive the content 12 hours later through Google Drive. When questioned about this incident, an OnlyFans spokesperson told The Verge “OnlyFans takes content piracy very seriously and has a designated DMCA team that issue formal takedown notices against all reported copyright violations. This service is provided free to all of our creators.”
