A slew of Australian iDevices were hijacked by manipulating the Find My iPhone feature to lock the devices, with hackers demanding the users to pay a ransom to unlock the devices.
Various iPhone, iPad, and Mac users were affected by the hack and Apple’s support forum began receiving a lot of complaints from affected users about it.
One user wrote, “I went to check my phone and there was a message on the screen (it’s still there) saying that my device(s) had been hacked by ‘Oleg Pliss’ and he/she/they demanded $100 USD/EUR (sent by paypal to lock404(at)hotmail.com) to return them to me.”
Another user said that he bypassed the hack and unlocked his device successfully only to get his device locked again by the hackers.
“Breaking news: I’ve been hacked a [second] time. I’ve just received an email that my phone was put into Lost Mode again, after I successfully changed my password,” he wrote.
Some users have also sought the help of Australian carriers and Apple to get back access to their iDevices.
The means the hackers used to tap into users’ accounts is yet to be found. Apple has not yet commented on the matter. Sources said that the hackers must have got hold of a list of users’ IDs and their corresponding passwords.
Some of the carriers have responded to users’ request, however, they all seem to divert the responsibility to Apple.
A Telstra spokesperson said, “We’re aware of the reports and we’ve referred the matter to Apple. In the meantime customers who need assistance can contact Apple Care.”
“If customers have any questions about their Apple devices, they should speak directly to Apple”, is the response from Optus.
Apple seems to be going through a sticky patch as it has been just over a month since the flaw in iOS 7, which let hackers to deactivate the Find My iPhone feature and also tap into users’ iCloud accounts, was detected.
