Apple & AT&T Security Breaches…..Again!
I recently read an article by MVP Susan Bradley titled iTunes account theft strikes close to home. In her article Susan explained how someone used her credit card to make a purchase and Apple offered no help tracking down the perpetrators.
“My next stop was Apple’s iTunes customer service, where I explained the situation and asked what had happened to my account. And that’s when the fun began.
Exactly how did someone gain access to my account? The e-mail I eventually received from Apple offered no explanation — just a recommendation that I change my password and contact my bank to remove the charges.”
Obviously, Susan did a little research and here’s what she found:
“I researched the Web and quickly discovered I wasn’t alone. About a year ago, blogger Gary LaPointe suffered a similar fate. In late May 2010, others added similar experiences to his post. More reports also showed up in Mac forums and in a Facebook page devoted to iTunes issues. The problem spread as far as Japan, where a news story discussed local iTunes identity thieves.
Since May, there’s been more bad news for Apple. In a highly publicized incident, AT&T came under fire for a security breach affecting iPad 3G users. Hackers found a vulnerability in AT&T’s customer database and used it to harvest e-mail addresses. With that information, they then posted a list of notable iPad 3G users such as Diane Sawyer and my sister. AT&T sent apology e-mails to everyone who owned an iPad with 3G Internet access.”
Both Apple and AT&T’s reputation has been tarnished by several security breaches lately.
“Apple’s woes didn’t stop there. On opening day for preorders for the iPhone 4, allegations by several tech sites — including a Gizmodo story — charged that the AT&T preorder site had inadvertently shared personal information among site users.”
Although AT&T has been responsible for some of these security breaches, Apple is automatically affected by these stories, especially after Apple admitted in an open letter that the signal bars on iPhones were essentially fake.
