In a vaguely-worded apology, carrier AT&T Sunday blamed hackers for a security breach which exposed thousands of iPad owners’ email addresses.
“On June 7, we learned that unauthorized computer ‘hackers’ maliciously exploited a function designed to make your iPad log-in process faster by pre-populating an AT&T authorization page with the email address you used to register your iPad for 3G service,” the carrier explained in a letter obtained by BGR.
The carrier said it disabled the pre-populated authentication screen “within hours” of becoming aware of the breach and only apologized for the “incident and any inconvenience” it may have caused. AT&T security chief Ed Amoroso had called the pre-population with emails a mistake by the company. Now iPad owners will need to enter both their SIM card serial numbers and emails for authentication.
Soon after the breach was revealed, the FBI opened its own investigation. AT&T told customers over the weekend it will “cooperate with law enforcement in any investigation of unauthorized system access and to prosecute violators to the fullest extent of the law.”
Last week, we reported at least 114,000 iPad owners had their email addresses collected by a group of calling themselves “Goatse Security.”
[via AppleInsider and BGR]
