Hacking group LulzSec claims to have accessed 12.4 million unique numbers identifying iPads and other Apple mobile devices, as well as personal information on the devices' owners, from an FBI agent's laptop. To prove the hack, the Anonymous-affiliated group posted on Pastebin one million of the unique device identifiers (the UDIDs), along with the device-types and names. The group removed the names, mobile phone numbers, and addresses, from the 89-MB file that it published to protect the owners.
What Else You Need To Know
- Popular apps used to access UDIDs and share them with marketers to track user behavior but in the past year, Apple has been phasing out apps that access UDIDs of users.
- FBI special agent Christopher Stangl, owner of the hacked PC, has been a prominent face in the agency's cybersecurity recruitment efforts.
Other sources
If the claim by AntiSec bears out (and frankly right now it is only that, a claim), then the question quickly turns to the FBI’s reasons for gathering the information in the first place.- Arik Hesseldahl, AllThingsD
The hackers [said] that it was "the right moment" to release the data as Apple was currently looking for alternatives to the UDID system.- David Meyer, ZDNet
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Hackers Claim FBI Has List of 12 Million iPhone and iPad ID Numbers
In March of this year, Congress started asking questions about the privacy in iOS apps, including UDIDs.
- ZDNet
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FBI hack yielded 12 million iPhone and iPad IDs, Anonymous claims
The hackers [said] that it was "the right moment" to release the data as Apple was currently looking for alternatives to the UDID system.
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- Hackers Obtain Millions of Apple Users' Information From FBI Laptop
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- Hackers leak 1 million Apple UDIDs allegedly stolen from FBI laptop
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- Apple device IDs hacked: What you need to know
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- FBI Says AntiSec Hackers Lied About List of iPhone ID Numbers
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