iTunes hacked

tallerbird

I would like to bring to your attention a major security problem that iTunes are having at the moment.!

Yesterday my girlfriend received an email to say her card details had been changed on her iTunes account. When we managed to get to a computer we discovered that her card details had been removed and there had been purchases made using the balance of a gift card on the account. The name of the apps purchased were in chinese but the developer was !Hongbin Suo.

After doing some research I came across the following

h ttp://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/03/01/apple-itunes-accounts-hacked-as-more-rogue-developers-emerge/

h ttp://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2665383&start=0&tstart=0

(sorry, I'm not allowed to post links so you will have to remove the space to get the URL to work)

Apple have been aware of a security issue linked to gift cards for weeks but are not warning it's users and it is affecting hundreds of people now. They are also allowing developers who are stealing money and hacking to continue.

I was a huge apple fan who has an iPhone, iPad and MacBook but I have seriously lost my confidence in them now. Not because of the problem but because they are trying to hide it whilst allowing it to continue.

Apple need to address this problem.

CynicalScotsman

Have you contacted apple to resolve it? Im sure they will just re-credit your account.

tallerbird

We have contacted apple. They have suspended the account and have said they will re-credit the account.

The problem is that we are not sure if we can trust iTunes any more, someone got access to the account and from what I have learnt from other websites it seems that this is a problem from apples side and not a case of sign up information being tricked out of users. Also, I am worried by the fact that the money is all going to the same developer and has been for weeks and apple are allowing that developers apps to remain in the app store.

Because apple are ignoring the problem and not giving any information as to what is going on I have no idea what I need to do to protect the account from being hacked again. Do I risk ever putting a gift card on there again? Is it safe to put details back on there?

We also spent most of last night changing any other accounts that had been set up with the same password.

mclaren2005

I have just been on my itunes account and have found out that I have had this happen to me as well, from the same person - £11.99 out on the 9.3.11 £1.79 on the 12.3 and £1.89 on the 14 march. I have emailed apple and are waiting for a response. As much as I want my money back (no credit card/debit card registered on Itunes we buy gift cards) Apple need to address the problem and notify their users, as this is an extreme security breach. I have just spent ages changing all the passwords. Need an explanation from Apple. Have to see what they say in their email.