Naked Celebrity Hacking Scandal: Cameron Diaz Calls Nude Photo Leak 'A Major Violation'

Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz has condemned the leak of nude images of female celebrities as "a major violation."

The star spoke out after explicit photos of 101 high-profile stars, including Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence, model Cara Delevingne and former Downton Abbey star Jessica Brown Findlay, were leaked online after the stars accounts were hacked.

Lawrence's representatives have confirmed that the photos are indeed authentic. In the pictures, the Hunger Games star is seen posing topless on a couch and drinking a glass of wine, wearing nothing but lace knickers.

Appearing on ITV's This Morning to promote her new film Sex Tape, which follows a couple who make a private sex tape, only for it be accidentally distributed to their friends and family, she said members of the public should consider how they would feel if they had been targeted in the wake of the iCloud hacking.

Speaking on ITV's This Morning, Diaz said: "Whoever has done it, they will be caught and made examples of. This can happen to anyone. If these guys can do it to this group of people then everyone's vulnerable to it.

"I think that people really need to look at... how would they feel if it happened to them?"

Her co-star Jason Segel said: "What happened in real life is a terrible crime. And it's very easy when you use the word "celebrity" to take away the human aspect but there is an actual person with a life, you know."

An alleged victim of the leak, Spider-Man actress Kirsten Dunst, seemed to hold iCloud responsible, tweeting: "Thank you iCloud."

iCloud is Apple's own cloud service, a wireless storage facility that can be used to access files remotely.

It was initially though that Apple's iCloud service had been compromised to access the images and leak them across the internet, however the technology giant said the leaks were not a result of breaches in the security of its computer systems.

They attributed the leak to a "very targeted attack" on the security procedures of celebrity accounts.

In a statement Apple said: "When we learned of the theft, we were outraged and immediately mobilised Apple's engineers to discover the source. Our customers' privacy and security are of utmost importance to us.

"After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered 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.

"None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple's systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved."

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller 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."

Other stars said to have been victims of the leak include Avril Lavigne, Cat Deeley and Rihanna.

The photos have led to a backlash against the anonymous hacker, who is accused of violating the privacy of the women involved.

Meanwhile, The Office star Ricky Gervais roused the fury of fans when he blamed the stars and not the hackers for the naked pictures of celebrities leaked online.

Gervais had little sympathy for them, tweeting: "Celebrities make it harder for hackers to get nude pics of you from the computer by not putting nude pics of yourself on your computer."

He later deleted the tweet.