Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King

Report: iPad owners revealed through AT&T security hole

By | June 9, 2010, 3:43pm PDT

Summary: Reports are surfacing that a security breach exposed the e-mail addresses of 114,000 iPad owners, including some big names in Washington. And while any breach would be newsworthy, it’s hard to get riled up over this thinly-sourced report.

A buzz of sorts is brewing over a Gawker Media report that says an AT&T security hole reportedly revealed the e-mail addresses of 114,000 iPad owners. The sourcing on the Gawker report is thin but the New York Times posted on its Bits blog that AT&T - which is reportedly the weak link that compromised the information - is aware of the issue and will respond soon.

Credit: Gawker Media

Credit: Gawker Media

The Gawker report offers some details about the breach, which allowed a not-so-mainstream security group called Goatse Security, to obtain the information. Through the data search, it identified 114,000 owners of the iPad 3G , including military officials, Senate and House staffers, as well as people at NASA, the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security. It also reportedly exposed the email addresses of execs of the New York Times, Dow Jones, Viacom, Time Warner, News Corp. and Hearst, as well as bankers and venture capitalists.

The report also found that the group obtained an ID number - called the ICC-ID - that the iPads use when they communicate over the AT&T network, though it was unclear what that information could be used for.

Again, the sourcing is very thin on this report - so take that into consideration as you read more about it. And I also tend to raise an eyebrow because the headline uses the sensationalistic “Apple’s Worst Security Breach” when, if you really think about it, the breach - if, in fact, that’s what it is - would be AT&T’s, not Apple’s.

I don’t mean to dilute the significance of any breach, whether AT&T’s or Apple’s. But I have to admit that I’m having trouble getting riled up over someone finding 114,000 e-mail addresses. Social security numbers and bank account numbers would be different but e-mail addresses are not hard to track down or just plain figure out.

What I would really want to know - given the volume of government officials whose official work e-mail addresses were found, instead of their personal Yahoo or Gmail addresses - is exactly who paid for all of these iPads that are reportedly in the hands of so many people in Washington.

Last time I checked, the iPad was a pretty expensive device, especially for government agencies that probably have better uses for government dollars other than to buy iPads.

As we come across more details - that is, official statements from any of the involved parties - we’ll update this post.

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Sam has been a technology and business blogger for more than 18 years.

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Sam Diaz

Sam Diaz has nothing to disclose.

Biography

Sam Diaz

Sam has been a technology and business blogger, reporter and editor at ZDNet, the Washington Post, San Jose Mercury News and Fresno Bee for more than 18 years. He's a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and a graduate of California State University, Fresno.

Talkback Most Recent of 10 Talkback(s)

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    yarinsiz
    13th May
  • RE: Report: iPad owners revealed through AT&T security hole
    @yarinsiz What he's saying is having the source makes attacks faster to spread, what he isn't saying is that THERE ARE MORE ATTACKS POSSIBLE.

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    Arabalar
    8th Aug
  • RE: Report: iPad owners revealed through AT&T security hole
    @yarinsiz That is really a big question. Google's servers are the heart of Google's business. And it has long been a FEATURE, a FEATURE, not a LOOPHOLE, that one could privately modify the GPL code they use to run their business. Of course web applications are obviously SaaS. But where does one draw the line between those applications and the servers that host them? For example, take an insurance company running open source on their back end servers. At some point they decide to put a customer facing front end on those servers so that customers can access their accounts over the Net. Does that suddenly make that whole kaboodle Saas? If so, I am not sure I am comfortable with AGPL. In fact, I am not sure I am comfortable with this concept anyway since it undercuts one of the few provisions that make GPL software highly attractive to businesses that are not engaged in reselling the software itself. It really compromises the spirit of the GPL in some ways.
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    arabaoyunlari@...
    11th Aug
  • RE: Report: iPad owners revealed through AT&T security hole
    These were white hat sohbet hackers (good guys) that discovered chat . But who else from the Black Hat side discovered first? .....yeah most likely people who bought 3G iPads at the very least will get spam'd out of their minds!

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    No doubt they should be having all their customers change their email address at least. Apple no doubt was involved in setting up AT&T's Prison Garden Walled iPad Servers. In that case they are responsible even in their own EULA stating that Apple will not give your private information to anyone!
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