'I am not behind this': American software engineer forced to deny he is the hacker who stole 101 celebrities' nude photos after he tried to resell them online for $100

Bryan Hamade, 26, was named as source of leak of nude celebrity photos

He tried to sell intimate pictures of Jennifer Lawrence in return for Bitcoin

He posted images on Reddit and allegedly tried to sell them for $100 each

But he was forced to deny that he was original hacker users identified him

Admitted he had been an 'idiot' and that photo he had tried to sell was fake



A total of 101 celebrities have been named on a list of victims of the hack

Denial: Andrew Hamade, brother of Bryan 26 (pictured), has denied accusations that his brother leaked nude celebrity pictures online

An American software engineer has denied stealing nude photos from celebrities’ iCloud accounts and claimed his life was being ruined after being identified as the hacker online.

Bryan Hamade, 26, was named as the source of the shocking leak after he tried to sell intimate pictures of actress Jennifer Lawrence in return for internet currency Bitcoin.

She and 100 other celebrities have been named on a list of victims after their accounts on Apple’s file sharing service were allegedly hacked into.

Mr Hamade posted some of the pictures on social networking website Reddit under the username BluntMastermind and allegedly tried to sell them for $100 each.

But he was forced to deny he was the original hacker after internet users on file sharing website 4chan – where the original pictures appeared - identified his real name.

Admitting he had been an ‘idiot’, he insisted he had lied about being the original hacker and said the photo he had tried to sell was a fake.

He told the MailOnline: ‘I am not behind this. I lied to someone on reddit to try and get bitcoins with a photoshopped picture. '



Outside her home near to Atlanta, Georgia, Jenna Bennett, Hamade's mother, told MailOnline that her son was not there. She said that Hamade is trying to hire a lawyer but has had trouble as it is Labor Day. She said the family may make a statement later.



According to a graphic chart doing the rounds online, Hamade, who posts online under the username, BluntMastermind, gave himself away as one of the original leakers when he attempted to prove to a 4chan user he had genuine nude images for sale.



Andrew said that the family have not been contacted by the FBI, but said they were being harassed by news crews who were keen to speak to them Exercise: Jenna Bennet, who is Bryan Hamade's mother leaves the house she shares with her son on Monday amid the growing controversy surrounding the software developer

Explanation: This graph created by a reddit user explains why suspicion has fallen on the shoulders of Bryan Hamade

He posted a screen grab of his computer which revealed his hard drive and network drive.



Reddit users tracked back through Hamade's previous posts and matched the hard drive and the PC name - thereby allegedly outing him as one of the original leakers.



However, he vehemently denied this to the MailOnline.



‘4chan thinks it's me for because of the photoshopped post I made. I am not a hacker. I have no idea how the hell someone could hack into all those accounts.’

Mr Hamade said he had been wrongly identified as the hacker after other internet users launched a ‘witch hunt’ to find the culprit.

According to one amateur internet sleuth, he had claimed to own 13 pictures of Miss Lawrence, 24, including four nude photos.

He allegedly asked for $100 for each photo but was identified after he posted a screenshot of his computer desktop that showed his ‘network folders’ saved in his name.



Mr Hamade added: 'I am just an idiot who tried to pull one over on 4chan and lost big time. I am not the original leaker. I only reposted one thing that was posted elsewhere and stupidly had my network folders visible.



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Mr Hamade tried to sell intimate pictures of actress Jennifer Lawrence (left) in return for the internet currency Bitcoin. Kate Upton (right) was among the list of victims whose accounts on iCloud were allegedly hacked into

The original photos were reportedly stolen via iCloud, before being published on file-sharing website 4chan

'I'd never in a million years know how to hack into any of the accounts listed. 4chan just attacked me because they like to attack anyone in situations such as this.’

Mr Hamade works for software company Southern Digital Media in Lawrenceville, Georgia.



Hamade has taken down all his social media and said that his original plan to profit off the leakers has backfired.



And in a further damning twist, a search of the Google cache for Hamade's deleted Twitter feed shows that he sent Olympic gymnast, McKayla Maroney, who was hacked, a message in April of this year.



In it he comments on one of her gymnastic performances, saying, 'That's some serious arm dancing.'

Why? Reddit users asked Hamade why he interacted with 18-year-old Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney. He said it was an innocent exchange

Indeed, according to his own employers' website, Hamade is qualified in code and a specialist in PHP, MySql, HTML and Java.



In another screenshot from the anon-ib message board, where the nude pictures were allegedly collected before being posted onto 4chan, there is a posting from a user known as 'OriginalGuy'.



Reddit user claim that OriginalGuy was posting pictures that had appeared only on postings made by Hamade.



According to the company’s website, he is a recent graduate of the University of Georgia and is the company’s ‘technical expert’, specializing in several computer programming codes.

Hamade says he is now seeking a lawyer to defend himself against any charges that may be brought against him. He also says he is looking for the true leaker.



'The real guy is on 4chan posting intermittently,' Hamade said of the nude photo leaker.



'He’s most likely the one behind it, but it does seem the photos passed around to multiple people before being leaked, so it may just be someone who has them and didn’t hack to get them.'

Time-stamp: This post to reddit reveals an argument between Bryan Hamade and another user about the time the Atlanta technician posted pictures to the web-thread service

Cat Deeley (right) was named as a victim whose photographs were stolen, but no supposedly 'nude' images of her have appeared online, while Nickelodeon star Victoria Justice (left) wrote on Twitter her image was faked

A spokesman for Oscar winner Miss Lawrence has confirmed the photos of her are genuine, saying: 'This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.’

Other celebrities named in the list posted by the hacker include Kate Upton, Cat Deeley, Ariana Grande and Victoria Justice. Some in the list have denied the photos are genuine.

