Turkish crime family group claims to have access to 250 million iCloud accounts

A group called the Turkish crime family claims to be able to access 250 million iCloud accounts, and says it will change passwords to lock people out of their accounts and remotely wipe iPhones on April 7th.

There’s been much debate around whether or not this claim is legitimate, though the group has requested $700,000 from Apple to forgo the threat.

A member of the group reportedly told Wired that it plans to demonstrate a sample of this cyber threat sometime before the deadline. Apple, on the other hand, says that the group doesn’t pose a threat to itself or its customers.

“There have not been any breaches in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud and Apple ID. The alleged list of email addresses and passwords appears to have been obtained from previously compromised third-party services. We’re actively monitoring to prevent unauthorized access to user accounts and are working with law enforcement to identify the criminals involved,” said Apple in a statement sent to Wired. 

Apple claims that the data came from previously compromised third-party services. While hackers admit that no direct breach of Apple’s servers took place, they appear in some cases to have access to iCloud passwords.

Source: Wired