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An unknown number of Apple IDs have apparently been hacked this week, and are being used to buy hundreds of dollars worth of apps in the App Store. It’s not yet clear whether the problem is widespread.
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This Article is written by
An unknown number of Apple IDs have apparently been hacked this week, and are being used to buy hundreds of dollars worth of apps in the App Store. It’s not yet clear whether the problem is widespread.An initial report by blogger Alex Brie highlighted the fact that 40 of the top 50 iPhone apps in the Books category were created by Vietnamese developer “Thuat Nguyen”. A hack of the App Store rankings by a single developer was suspected.
However, Brie later added that numerous Vietnamese book apps were doing suspiciously well in the rankings — Apple responded to the blogger that the issue is being looked into....
Hack Reports on Twitter, App Store Reviews and MacForumsFurther reporting revealed more problems: Twitter complaints and a MacRumors forum thread spotted by The Next Web show that a number of iTunes users have had their accounts compromised and used to buy hundreds of dollars of apps. In particular, reviewers of the Vietnamese book apps claim in the app’s reviews section that they never downloaded the apps, and instead had their accounts compromised.
A few complaints from the MacRumors forum:Yesterday my credit union contacted me saying there was suspicious activity on my debit card. Sure enough over 10 transactions in the $40-$50 area all on iTunes equaling to $558. This is definitely a problem, since then I’ve e-mailed MSNBC hoping they’ll pick up the story and investigate this problem. — srslylia
A small $1.00-$3.00 charge, then random navigation apps totalling around $190.00. Cancelled the card and now working with credit union to get the charges removed.
I will never use my debit card with Itunes again. –tofublock
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A Word of CautionI also received a receipt via email on my “Purchases” on 7/2/10. I made the mistake of storing my debit card on the itunes store app. I have run into the exact same responses that other users are reporting–only email as a method of contact.That response was to tell me how to change passwords, etc. – stock answers and to also tell me of no refunds. I was an internet technician for years so the iTunes advise was second nature for me but with little hope for “fixing” the issue since I believe that the breach was on the iTunes server. — beccid63
We don’t yet know whether these are isolated cases or part of a wider breach. It could be that blog posts about the Vietnamese book apps have provided an opportunity for others to come forward about unrelated compromises of their accounts. Or it could be that iTunes accounts really are being hacked in much greater numbers this week — in which case, Apple has another PR nightmare on its hands.
For now, we’d suggest iTunes users check their iTunes account for unusual transactions, and report these if found. 
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