FBI Probes Apple iPad Security Breach
(
Page 1 of 2 )
(Reuters) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened a probe into a security breach of Apple Inc's iPad that exposed personal information of AT&T Inc customers, including those of several high-ranking government officials.
The breach, first reported by the website Gawker, occurred when a group calling itself Goatse Security hacked into AT&T's iPad subscriber data, obtaining a list of email addresses that also included celebrities, chief executives and politicians.
"The FBI is aware of these possible computer intrusions and has opened an investigation to address the potential cyber threat," FBI spokesman Jason Pack said on Thursday.
Subscribe to Channel Insider. Click here for our ultra-quick email newsletter registration form.
AT&T, which has exclusive U.S. rights to carry the iPad and the popular iPhone, has acknowledged the security breach but said it had corrected the flaw and that only email addresses were exposed to hackers who identified a security weakness.
It declined to comment on the FBI investigation.
The quick FBI probe into the security flaw came amid reports of several high-ranking government officials on the list of iPad owners with compromised personal information.
In all, more than 100,000 email addresses are believed to have been exposed. Goatse could not immediately be reached for comment.
One source in the telecommunications industry said it was not surprising that the FBI was looking at the breach.
"If there's a high profile data compromise it's not unusual to get a phone call from government officials," said the executive, who asked not to be named.
The iPad, launched in April, has already sold more than 2 million units worldwide.
