“The FBI said it was looking into the matter of nude photos of Hollywood celebrities being leaked online by hackers,” according to a story on the CBS News website.

The story, jointly written by CBS News and the Associated Press, reports: “In a statement, the agency said it was ‘aware of the allegations concerning computer intrusions and the unlawful release of material involving high-profile individuals, and is addressing the matter.’

“A publicist for Jennifer Lawrence earlier said the actress contacted authorities after nude photos of her were apparently stolen and posted online.”

The CBS/AP story adds: “Dozens of private, nude photographs were said to be accessed from phones and leaked online. The pictures were allegedly taken from a cloud-based Internet data storage system.”

The story adds, “ ‘In some cases those security controls are not in place [which] allows them to throw as many as 500 passwords at an account until it accepts one,’ Jeff Schilling of cloud service provider Firehost told CBS News correspondent Carter Evans.”

An NBC News article about the hacking says that besides the involvement of the FBI, “Apple said Monday they are investigating the apparent hacking of iCloud accounts that led to alleged nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other female stars being posted online. ‘We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report,’ Nat Kerris, Apple spokeswoman, told NBC News. The computer giant has not explained how the hackers could have obtained the images.”