Yesterday, iTunes was hacked. Here is what you need to know.
This is perhaps one of the most ingenius methods of ‘earning’ money that I have heard of in recent times: steal it ‘legally’. To clarify what I mean, late last night, on the eve of July 4th (Independance Day in the US), iTunes was hacked, pretty badly. This involved a group of developers who specifically targeted the AppStore section of iTunes, and spent thousands and thousands of dollars overnight of unknowing accountholders money by having those hacked accounts purchase the developers submissions within the Books category. The suspects involved were identified as only foreign companies, “My Company”, “DY Software”, “X-Asia Media”, and “Mobido, LLC.”, but at the time, it is suspected that more businesses were involved.
As stated above, none of these companies are located or formed on American soil, which makes them that much harder to identify and prosecute in the future. They were mainly Russian and Asian companies, with a few others from various European regions. And as we all know, China and Russia are known the world over for being piracy capitals of the world, as well as Thailand and other similar regions. Each and every item purchased were all listed as being version “1.0”, which means that they were submitted very recently and have had no further updates since then.
It is speculated that this attack was planned and effectuated on the Eve of Independence Day because it was assumed that the work ethics of Apple employees would be lacking due to their dismay at having to work on the US Federal Holiday, and it seems that assumption has paid off. What Apple employees had assumed would be a routine, uneventful and possibly even slow day has resulted in an event that could possibly bring EVEN MORE lawsuits to Apple based on their lack of security for their customers identity and funds.
Another item of interest to note is that in the “Reviews” sections, several “reviews” were made in severely broken English, or in some cases just basic English phrases such as “very interesting” or “story was good”, which can be obtained very easily through Google Translate or even most of the “Translate” apps available in the AppStore. This shows that whoever was making these comments was obviously not familiar with English as a first language, and since most foreign accounts from those regions right now are under observation, it stands to reason that the accounts that left those comments will be investigated. In these same comments and review sections, you can openly see accounts who have made comments claiming that they were drained of HUNDREDS of dollars from their iTunes accounts, and warning users to monitor their accounts, and for the time being, change their passwords multiple times a day.
At the current time I was writing this article, the only thing that was able to be unearthed about these companies in questions were their websites, and here they are for your own personal viewing pleasure:
Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if these apps have already been pulled from the AppStore, so good luck finding most of them. That’s if the developers themselves haven’t pulled the Apps from the AppStore. See, theres a reason why that would be beneficial. If there are no apps or companies to investigate, then they can’t be found. And through corporate manipulation, Apple will simply mail them their developers checks as they normally do, unaware that these guys were the ones who hacked iTunes. I guess that’s their plan, but in my opinion, good ol’ Zeus (Steve Jobs) is smarter than your average bear.
Also noteworthy, inside sources are claiming that the UK Apple Store has been unaffected by this attack.
As always, if you notice any suspicious charges on your credit cards or iTunes account, its recommended that you call your financial institution as well as Apple directly, and have them launch an investigation into your finances. It’s always better to be safe that sorry. You can do that by checking your recent purchases, and keeping an eye out for the “Receipt” email that iTunes will send you after a purchase.
I think that through their money, that’s how they’ll be caught, but once again, that’s only one bloggers speculation. Feel free to form your own opinions in the comments below.
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