Anonymous hackers claim to have obtained 12 million iPhone and iPad IDs from FBI computer

CBS

(CBS News) Anonymous hackers are at it again. This time the target is the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Apple iPhones and iPads.

Hackers associated with the group Anonymous claimed to have obtained 12 million Apple unique device identifiers (UDID) from an FBI computer. A faction of the group that call themselves AntiSec posted instruction on how to access 1 million Apple UDIDs on the public bulletin board Pastebin. The group reported the hack via Twitter, using an Anonymous account.

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An Apple UDID is a string of numbers and letters that identifies individual iPhones and iPads. The numbers are used to determine which devices are approved for content, including apps in beta tests.

Antisec claims that it breached the laptop of FBI special agent Christopher K. Stangl. The group says a spreadsheet on Stangl's computer contained a list over 12 million Apple devices and included UDIDs, user names, name of device, type of device, Apple push notification service tokens, zip codes, mobile phone numbers and addresses.

The hacking group says the file it posted online contains: the Apple device UDID, Apple push notification service "devtoken," the device name and device type.

So why target the FBI and Apple now?

Antisec claims that the FBI has been using the Apple UDID to track people. However, the group did not cite any incidents to back its allegations. Another possible cause for the hack is that Antisec feels that it has been unfairly targeted. The group says of the FBI: "They decided to hunt us down and jail our friends."

Antisec is referring to several cases of hackers who have been arrested worldwide, including several men associated with the group LulzSec in the U.K. and Arizona.

LulzSec made headlines when it claimed responsibility for stealing the account information of over 77 million members of Sony's PlayStation Network. The group's 50-day hacking spree began in May 2011 with a database of "X Factor" contestants.

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The group also claimed responsibility for later hacking into Sony Pictures Entertainment and accessing 1 million accounts. Sony reported 37,500 accounts were actually breached. LulzSec also claimed to have hacked the Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Senate and Public Broadcasting Service websites.

Anonymous is known mostly for attacks on the Church of Scientology, Visa and Mastercard in protest of the companies blocking payments to Wikileaks and the websites of the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA), among others.

The FBI did not immediately respond to CBS News' request for comment.

[TCEchicago]

Why did CBS take the time to write an article and not even mention the question, "Why does an FBI laptop contain 12 million cell phone records?"

[hypnotoad72]

I'll check other sources (e.g. not ZDnet or other CBS affiliates) to see if they credit CBS... this article is all over the internet today and others may have their own sources...

[maaagz]

If you want to lookup your UDID but afraid to expose it, use a partial search at http://pastehtml.com/udid

[hypnotoad72]

I'll find a method other than an unknown web site to look that sort of thing up, probably, but thanks anyway. :)

[AnArkansasVet]

Why would Apple provide this information to the FBI without the knowledge of their users or a warrant? Why does the government need 12 million device ID's and their associated information?

[hypnotoad72]

Why did Apple give it away free? Maybe what they "gave" is in return for all of those tax breaks and other entitlements... amongst a zillion other possibilities, which includes Apple not giving the government anything... or maybe the government did buy it. But that's just capitalism, so why hate that?

But as we all know, it's bad for government to do these things but a quick web search shows Apple, amongst other non-government entities, freely collecting data as well. But that's okay, at least according to those who demand government stay out of private lives...

[sdkeller]

If FBI wasn't using the information that they had on their computers to track US citizens, then why did they have that information in the first place? This is just another shining example of why the Patriot Act needs repealed and our civil rights restored.