Hasta La Gadget!

Hacking group AntiSec (connected to Anonymous and LulzSec) made some bold claims Tuesday that it had obtained the unique device identifiers (UDIDs) of 12 million iOS devices from an FBI laptop, setting more than a few people on edge. The FBI has already denied that anything was stolen, but Apple has gone one step further to argue that it had no involvement. Spokeswoman Natalie Kerris tells AllThingsD that Apple hasn’t given UDIDs to the FBI “or any organization” — suggesting that either AntiSec or the FBI isn’t telling the whole story of what data emerged and where. Even if there are real UDIDs floating around, Kerris adds that they don’t necessarily pose much danger. She notes that programming hooks in iOS 6 will provide an alternative to UDID for device-specific data, and that apps will eventually be forbidden from using the older identifiers altogether. While the truth in the situation is hard to pin down, the technical reality doesn’t leave much risk that our iPads and iPhones will be compromised. At least, not after this month.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Mobile

Apple denies giving FBI any iOS device UDIDs, raises questions over AntiSec claims originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this morning, we reported that the AntiSec hacker group claimed to have stolen personal information of Apple device owners from an FBI agent’s notebook – amounting to 12 million or so Device IDs, while allegedly leaking out a million of those as proof. It is now the FBI’s turn to refute such allegations, where FBI officials claim that the bureau never requested for and has never been in possession of the database that was hacked. I guess it is a matter of words now, and an issue of public perception. Who do you think is the better poker player here, and whose bluff do you call?

FBI officials did, however, say that they are unable to verify the validity of the data which AntiSec released, and instead issued a warning to computer users to be more vigilant and careful whenever clicking on links as they might end up clicking on malicious links that lead to malware being installed on your machine.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple UDID Leak: Why Does It Matter?, 1 million Apple Device IDs leaked, claim hackers,

Just a few hours after AntiSec claims to have snagged millions and millions of Apple IDs from an FBI laptop the FBI has issued a statement debunking their claims. We first reported on these events this morning but now it looks like things are about to get a bit more interesting. Claiming that AntiSec is lying about the FBI’s involvement.

This morning AntiSec reportedly managed to get their hands on over 12 million Apple IDs and other personal user information, and even posted 1 million of them to a pastebin. Now according to AllThingsD the FBI is calling AntiSec liars after reaching out and receiving this statement in return.

The FBI is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI laptop was compromised and private data regarding Apple UDIDs was exposed. At this time there is no evidence indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the FBI either sought or obtained this data.”

the FBI is basically saying these reports are totally false and that they never actually had the information mentioned to begin with. Essentially what this means is FBI is trying to distance themselves from the situation, and wants to get the word out that they are indeed not collecting this type of date. Whether or not this is true remains to be seen.

Now the real question is regarding all the information. If it wasn’t obtained from FBI then were did AntiSec managed to snag well over 12 million Apple IDs? The FBI has even tweeted that the claims are “totally false.” Now the heat is back on AntiSec as they are left to either prove how they got the information from the FBI, or share where it actually came from. Thoughts?

[via 9to5Mac]

FBI calls out AntiSec, claim they had nothing to do with stolen Apple IDs is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The federal government has continued its crack down on piracy, with the Department of Justice announcing that three different sites which market pirated Android apps have been shut down. The websites in question – applanet.net, appbucket.net and snappzmarket.com – are now all under the government’s control, and all three display the same copyright notice that has graced Megaupload for the better part of the year. The DoJ says that this is the first time any websites relating to pirated mobile apps have been shut down.

Officially, these three websites that were seized are “suspected of distributing copies of apps without permission from the software developers who would otherwise sell copies of the apps on legitimate online markets for a fee.” During its investigation, the FBI downloaded thousands of apps from these websites, which charged users for the pirated apps. When it came time to execute the search warrants, the DoJ and the FBI teamed up with Dutch and French law enforcement officials to bring the servers down, since the servers were hosted in other countries.

In a DoJ statement, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said that mobile apps have become a priority in the government’s anti-piracy efforts. “Cracking down on piracy of copyrighted works – including popular apps – is a top priority of the Criminal Division,” Breuer said, adding that the Justice Department’s Criminal Division is committed to working with law enforcement to protect those who develop apps for mobile devices. U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates expanded on that by saying the government will continue to seize websites involved with marketing pirated apps.

Interestingly, blapkmarket.com is down at the time of this writing, but it doesn’t appear to have been seized, showing a “service temporarily down” message instead of the copyright banner that currently graces the three sites mentioned above. By far the most high-profile shut down has been that of Megaupload, which was seized by the government back in January and remains down today. The owners of Megaupload are facing some hefty fines and significant jail time, so it wouldn’t surprise us if these latest seizures have other sites shutting down as a preemptive measure. Stay tuned for more information, because it sounds like the Department of Justice and the FBI are just getting warmed up.

Department of Justice, FBI seize three Android pirate sites is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Do you know how the FBI justified the insane raid of Kim Dotcom’s mansion? By saying that it suspected that Kim Dotcom had a ‘doomsday’ device that could “wipe out evidence of internet piracy around the world.” No, seriously. More »