Apple security team received ransomware note- pay or 300 million phones get wiped

TheFORCE

Hackers Threaten to Remotely Wipe 300 Million iPhones Unless Apple Pays Ransom

Don't know if I can beleive it, but you never know with all these tools being available now.

NOC-Ninja

Cheeseburger Ice Apple have access to these iphones due to embedded firmware malware. Also, you have them losing control of their own Pnt3st tools.
I wouldnt be surprise if the 3lite got a hold of great tools and using it against Apple.

YFZblu

Not a thing. Anyone who controls the fate of 300,000,000 iCloud accounts and asks only $75,000 in ransom should just kill themselves.

alias454

There may be something there but the full extent isn't really clear. I have seen different numbers 200, 300, and 500+ million accounts. Asking for 75k sounds like someone looking for a quick payout on a small time con but it isn't a bad idea to take necessary precautions (you know, just in case).

"ZDNet has uncovered several loose ends with a claim regarding millions of iCloud accounts held for ransom, and questions remain. Users should act with an abundance of caution to protect their accounts."
There is a follow up article that has some additional details Apple iCloud ransom demands: The facts you need to know | ZDNet

TechGromit

If you can wipe Icloud data, surely you can access it as well? Stealing the data could easily net a couple hundred million dollars at minimum, and that's less then $1 an account. I'm sure plenty of people store bank account information, passwords, credit card info, very personal photos they do not want release to the public. "Pay me $500 bit coin, or you'll be the featured girl on nude iphone girl of the month club and I'll forward it to all your contacts as well". Frankly I do not believe this group can do what they claim, and if they can, they are morons for asking so little.

p@r0tuXus

I'm not sure the thieves are as dumb as they sound. Forgive me a moment, they most certainly could be. On the other hand, let's consider Apples position in this scenario. Apple pays the ransom and the thieves don't have the tools, they look silly for giving in to the demands. Apple doesn't pay and the thieves can and do execute the wipe, Apple looks even worse... brand is damaged, customers are pissed, data lost, security is questioned. A small sum like that might be easier to move from account to account to keep it anonymous too. If they asked for something extreme, then how would they move it into bitcoin so easily? lol.

Verities

Something about this is just fishy. The group (Turkish Crime Family) stated they want 1 million dollars or $100,000 worth of iTunes gift cards.... and I also read that this is a political statement against the hackers involved with the Yahoo breach. Anyway, here's the geniuses twitter:

https://twitter.com/turkcrimefamily

As a just in case (even though Apple said they didn't find any breaches in their systems) its probably a good idea to change your password for your iTunes/iCloud account and change your security questions, along with enable 2FA.