In the NEWS this week
Apple have sent out an email statement after receiving a demand for ransom from a group calling itself “Turkish Crime Family”. The $75 000 cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin) needs to be paid by Apple before the groups deadline of the 7th of April. The group claims to have access to nearly 600 million Apple email and iCloud accounts. Having this information could not only give them access to data, but they are threatening to remote wipe millions of iPhone's.
Apple have responded to say
The News/Media website “Motherboard” contacted Apple who responded in an email:
"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 unauthorised access to user accounts and are working with law enforcement to identify the criminals involved. To protect against these type of attacks, we always recommend that users always use strong passwords, not use those same passwords across sites and turn on two-factor authentication."
So no breach at Apple, but an admission that account information may have been obtained from other sources.
Cactus IT recommends you take the following action
Passwords: At the very least, you should review your current password for your Apple account to make sure it is secure and not used across multiple sites. Take a look at our previous Blog for help and advice with that.
Two-factor authentication: This is where you still use your secure Apple password, but have another layer of security to ensure that you are the only person with access to your account. Take a look at this article from Apple for instructions on setting that up.