Apple Responds to iCloud Blackmail Threats
Apple in a statement has said that the much-hyped “Turkish Crime Family” iCloud data blackmail threat is not based on any successful attack on its iCloud service.
“No Breaches”
“There have not been any breaches in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud and Apple ID. The alleged list of email addresses and passwords appears to have been obtained from previously compromised third-party services,” the company said.
(Some claim the recent LinkedIn heist may be part of this)
This shabby little blackmail story is one in which some shadowy group claims to have access to 559 million iCloud accounts. It wants Apple to pay it to delete what it knows, or the group threatens to delete all these accounts.
Apple says it is “actively monitoring to prevent unauthorized access to user accounts and are working with law enforcement to identify the criminals involved.”
What should you do?
- The best precaution you can take today is to change your Apple ID password. Use eight characters and mix upper and lower case characters, numbers, and symbols.
- Set-up two-factor authentication
- Check your iCloud account security pages for any unauthorised activity there.
You should be OK if you follow these steps (and never tap a link in an email).
