Emma Watson responds to 'nude' photo hack as Fappening 2.0 fears grow

A representative for Beauty and the Beast star Emma Watson has issued a statement over reports that photos of the actress have been stolen in a hacking attack.

Private photos of 26-year-old Watson taken during a swimsuit fitting have been posted online, along with nude images of other celebrities, in what has been dubbed 'The Fappening 2.0'. Actor Amanda Seyfried is also allegedly a victim in the latest batch, as fears grow that more celebrities could be exposed.

"Photos from a clothes fitting Emma had with a stylist a couple of years ago have been stolen. They are not nude photographs. Lawyers have been instructed and we are not commenting further," Watson's publicist told the BBC.

Among the images were photos of an unknown woman in the bath with her face cropped out. The Harry Potter actress has denied those pictures are of her.

It was reported that pictures of US actress Amanda Seyfried were also stolen. Seyfried, who is expecting her first child with Thomas Sadoski, has not commented on the hacked photos. However, on Wednesday afternoon (15 March) her lawyers demanded that another website that reposted the photos remove them immediately.

The previous "Fappening" incident was blamed on weak security on iCloud accounts, which are often used to store images and documents. In October last year a 36-year-old hacker, Ryan Collins, was jailed for 18 months for breaking into more than 100 Google and Apple profiles.