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