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AT&T : security gap exposed Apple iPad e-mail addresses, IDs
AT&T said late Wednesday that a security breach had exposed the e-mail addresses of Apple iPad users. The nation's second-largest wireless service provider said that the problem had been fixed and that it would inform customers of the breach, wh... ich also exposed their iPad identification numbers used to autheticate a wireless user.
Gawker said the hacker group that breached AT&T's network obtained the e-mail addresses of top level politicians, television reporters and business executives, including White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel (check out my colleague, Michael Shear's story on iPads in the White House inner circle).
AT&T did not say how many customers were affected. But Gawker, which reported the breach earlier Wednesday, said 114,000 e-mail addresses were exposed. Apple, which says it has sold 2 million iPads since it was launched last April, did not immediately respond to an interview request. (Check out our photo gallery of iPad buyers.)
From Gawker:
The breach, which comes just weeks after an Apple employee lost an iPhone prototype in a bar, exposed the most exclusive email list on the planet, a collection of early-adopter iPad 3G subscribers that includes thousands of A-listers in finance, politics and media, from New York Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson to Diane Sawyer of ABC News to film mogul Harvey Weinstein to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. It even appears that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's information was compromised.
"The issue has escalated to the highest levels of the company and was corrected by Tuesday; and we have essentially turned off the feature that provided the e-mail addresses," AT&T said in a statement.
AT&T, which is Apple's exclusive partner on the iPad and iPhone, said it was informed on Monday of the security breach by one of its business customers. The person or group that first discovered the security hole did not contact AT&T, the wireless company said.
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