Hackers are blackmailing Apple for personal data of iCloud users; service helps to identify journalist's abuser

Apple is undeniably one of the most powerful companies on the planet. Whatever Tim Cook and his gang want can basically be transformed into reality with a snap of a finger (or not). Depending on your goodwill, we are talking about a relationship of domination with the rest of the world, especially us, your brave followers. But what about when Ma is on the other side of the spectrum, the side that does not exercise control?

We still don't know how much of that is reality, but the Motherboard today reported a case that exactly so. According to the publication, a group of hackers is blackmailing the Cupertino giant for an allegedly large number of accounts from the iCloud, including personal data for many users of the Apple ecosystem.

Hackers, who identify themselves as “Turkish Crime Family” (family of Turkish criminals), demand $ 75,000 (~ R $ 230,000) in Bitcoins or Ethereum or $ 100,000 (~ R $ 307,000) in iTunes Gift Cards, in what is probably the most ironic and funny part of this story. If the ransom is not paid by the day April 7th, the evildoers promise disclose the data and remotely wipe iPhones and iPads connected to more than 300 million iCloud accounts the information, however, appears to be inconsistent, as another member of the group spoke on 559 million accounts.

It was the group of invaders who reported the story to the Motherboard, giving journalists access to an email account containing a series of correspondence between them and an Apple security team. In one of the initial messages, Ma employees at an email address under the @ apple domain, which proves its veracity, request that hackers share a sample of the data obtained; in return, the criminals posted a video on YouTube in which they logged in to some of the stolen accounts, with access to photos of the victims and the possibility to erase their data remotely. Another email from Apple (this is seen in the report only through a screenshot, not in its original way), then replies:

First, we kindly request that you remove the video posted on your YouTube channel, as it is attracting unwanted attention; second, we want you to know that we do not reward cybercriminals for breaking the law.

Finally, the Ma team says it will pass the correspondence on to the responsible authorities. This was the last communication between Cupertino's ship and the hackers; so far, so far, it is not known whether this story will end with a massive leak of personal data from iCloud users or with a hacker's bank account fatter in a few thousand dollars this, of course, if everything is just a big It is a bold bluff, which is also a huge possibility.

Either way, it serves as another reiteration of the old warning: do not fully trust any cloud services or online storage. And, just in case, if you value your data stored on iCloud, it may be a good idea to do a local backup of it before April 7th.

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As much as we live by hitting the iCloud key, as well as all other cloud services available on the market, it is not completely safe or reliable, it is sometimes important to remember that it can be used for very positive things and in this case I am not even talking about preserving important moments or crucial data in your life, but about identifying a criminal and helping the law to properly punish you.

Kurt Eichenwald

In December of last year, the writer and journalist at Newsweek Kurt Eichenwald who was a prominent figure in the last US elections for his opinions and matters against Donald Trump, attracting all kinds of support and attack from both sides received a response to one of his tweets of an anonymous account. Eichenwald, who has been notoriously suffering from epilepsy since he was a teenager and has already published a book on the topic, opened the image incorporated in the reply only to be exposed to a flashing GIF with the words "you deserve a convulsion for your posts". He did not give another: immediately, the journalist fell to the ground, in an attack that took him to the hospital and left him with mobility problems and speaks for weeks. Shortly after the attack, in response to the attacker, Eichenwald's wife wrote in her husband's account:

Here his wife, you caused a convulsion. I have your information and I called the police to report the assault.

The problem: the attacker used an anonymous social network account and, to make matters worse, carried out the attack via a cellular network accessed through a prepaid SIM card, purchased with cash. Neither Twitter nor Tracfone, the operator of the network used, was able to provide information that pointed to the culprit, even though they were willing to help with the investigations.

It seemed to be a hopeless case, until AT&T, owner of the network subsidized by Tracfone, accessed its records and detected that the attacker's SIM had been used in a iPhone 6. The investigators then turned to Apple, requesting the iCloud accounts linked to the SIM phone number and voile: John Rivello's Apple ID from Salisbury, Maryland was discovered; a simple look at the man's photos and messages proved his “interest” in Eichenwald and his guilt.

Now, Rivello will justly answer for his crime and could face up to ten years in prison on the charge of assault with a deadly weapon the thesis of Eichenwald's lawyer that the attack would be no different, for example, from a bomb sent by mail or something similar, considering that the victim's condition was public and the attacker acted with this information in mind.

The story, after all, is a great reminder to the fact that Apple, while waging eternal struggles with the FBI when it comes to creating potentially unsafe systems, collaborates regularly with the authorities of the world if the information on its servers can. help clarify a crime. So if you’re thinking of doing something illegal, keep the evidence away from your iPhone, or maybe, who knows, just by suggestion, no commit crimes.

(via The Next Web, Cult of Mac)