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Apple? Where's the Leak?

'Mr Nguyen couldn't be located for comment.'


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Some 400 iTunes account holders claim they've been systematically hacked. Apple insist their servers are secure. One of those claims might not be true.

Apple reps say they're putting new security measures in their iTunes store despite their claim there's nothing wrong with it. And they nevertheless go on record to say they hope these new security measures can minimise criminal activity in the future.

That's not too encouraging for the 150,000,000 clients with credit information protected by Apple.

Pam Quinn received a call from her credit card company asking if she'd bought $7,000 worth of iPad apps. 'The phone call should have come from Apple hours before it came from Visa', she said.

Apple refused to deal with her on the phone and 48 hours later responded to her email request for help by telling her to contact her bank and delete her account.

And Apple refused to comment on individual customers for the Wall Street Journal.


Pete Bilderback had $1000 in suspicious charges in his account last February. Bilderback says Apple could easily detect fraud if they wanted to - they can deliver targeted ads so why don't they check purchasing patterns like the credit card companies?

'Sounds a bit fishy', says Paul Lamkin of Pocket-lint. '400 accounts used without permission and with no hacking?'

'How did Nguyen, or whoever orchestrated the rogue app purchases, get iTunes user data?'

It would be really great if Apple told those 150,000,000 clients exactly how the accounts were compromised. Otherwise the only sensible thing to do is demand Apple destroy the records and 150,000,000 people get new credit information ASAP.

Overall, iTunes hacking remains a relatively small scale online fraud compared with other digital crimes like stolen credit card numbers, say security experts. But that's only if you discount the fact that most banks are using Windows and other Microsoft products. Apple's OS is supposed to be Unix and it's supposed to be secure. And the people at Apple are at any rate supposed to know better.

'Stolen iTunes credentials can be found for sale in Internet forums', reports Ben Worthen of the Wall Street Journal. But people want to know how they got there. People don't accept the slipshod world of Windows and the Ballmeresque shrug of the shoulders that says 'things like this happen'.

They don't happen, they shouldn't happen, they shouldn't happen to Apple. And Apple now have to show they're grownups. Enough of this rabid secrecy. Out with the details, tell people what really happened, and stop trying to figure out how to spin the story to blow the stink out of Cupertino. Be adults about it.

Thanks.

See Also
WSJ: Apple Battling iTunes Frauds
Pocket-lint: Apple bars rogue trader
NY Times: Apple Block App Developer
Unbeatable: Apple Ban Hacker - Change Your Password!
Gawker: Apple's Worst Security Breach: 114,000 iPad Owners Exposed

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