FBI launches probe over AT&T's iPad breach

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched an investigation related to an iPad security breach that allowed hackers to use an AT&T security hole to obtain the e-mail addresses of 114,000 iPad owners, including many government officials.

News reports are starting to surface about the investigation and early details make it unclear what, exactly, the FBI is investigating. A FBI spokesperson told the legal blog Main Justice that "the investigation is broad and not specific to the potential security threat from the use of the device by federal employees." The spokesperson said the FBI has not issued a warning to employees about their use of the device.

AT&T said in a statement that the feature that allowed the breach was turned off on Tuesday, a day before Gawker Media ran a detailed blog post about it. The only information that the breach allowed access to were e-mail addresses, but that the investigation was continuing.

The FBI told the Wall Street Journal that the investigation opened today and the it remains in the very early stages. The FBI would not comment specifically about what it is investigating.

Also see: The security and privacy ramifications of AT&T's iLeak