Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s database was said to have been breached by hackers. However, the hacker group’s claims are highly suspect, according to Apple Insider. The name of the group is the 1775 Sec, and they posted the supposed results of their breach of Apple’s database on Pastebin before announcing them on Twitter. After that announcement, the alleged hacktivist collective said on Twitter that the group and its operations are “suspended until further notice.”
Why hacker group’s claim is suspect
1775 Sec is apparently the same group which claimed to have breached Dropbox, but that claim was later revealed to be a hoax. The company said it encountered some sort of internal error while performing scheduled maintenance. And according to Apple Insider, the results from this latest claim regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s database are suspect because of the details within those results.
Apple Insider said it was able to verify that some of those details, which include user information, are correct. However, the site questions the legitimacy of other data in that post, including passwords, usernames and email addresses. Apparently some of the phone numbers listed in the post aren’t in service any longer, which means the data could be old. Apple Insider also suggests that this information isn’t from Apple’s database at all and is just a hoax designed to draw the attention of the media.
This same suggestion was made by many who commented on the alleged hacker group’s Twitter feed, but they responded by claiming that the data is indeed new. There are numerous tweets on the hacker group’s feed claiming that they breached Apple’s database days ago and demanding that Apple respond to them and comply with their demands. Many of the people calling this a hoax commented on the Twitter feed. The group maintained, however, that it breached Apple’s database and also Dropbox’s site as well.
Hackers running rampant
Hackers have certainly been busy lately, compromising Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s blog and a couple of its Twitter accounts and also MIT’s website. During the Christmas holiday, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), Neiman Marcus and allegedly three other U.S. retailers were targeted by hackers and the payment information of millions of shoppers was compromised.
The last time Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was targeted by hackers was in July of last year when hackers breached its developer portal. The company took the site down for eight days so it could overhaul security and prevent another breach from occurring.
