Apple Reportedly Will Step Up Security Email, Push Notices
By Chris Preimesberger | Posted 2014-09-04
CEO Tim Cook tells Wall Street Journal that Apple's security notifications will get more specific following last week's celebrity hack attack.
As a result of the Labor Day weekend hacker attack on a number of celebrity iCloud accounts, Apple said Sept. 4 that it will begin enhanced security alerts for iCloud users as soon as possible. Apple CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal that due to the security breach, the company now will alert users through both e-mail and push notices if an outsider tries to change a password, move iCloud data to a new device, or if a bot or another device tries to log into an account. Several days ago an as-yet-unidentified hacker broke into the stars' iCloud storage accounts--the list of which includes actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Kirsten Dunst and model Kate Upton. The hacker then stole nude and seminude images of the women and then published the photos to an Website called 4Chan.org. It has been called the biggest celebrity hacking scandal to date. It was important enough for the FBI to assemble a team to investigate the case.
Currently, iCloud users receive e-mails if someone tries to change a password or attempts to log in for the first time from a new device. However, notifications for restoring iCloud data to a new device are new, Cook told The Journal.
Cook also said Apple will increase its use of two-factor authentication, which requires users to present two of three pieces of personal-knowledge information before being able to log in. Apple took a day and a half to respond that it believes the photos were leaked due to targeted attacks on specific accounts and not because of a direct breach of Apple's storage or mobile security. Whatever process enabled the breach, this type of problem can happen against any type of cloud storage service. Apple just happened to be the victim in this latest attack.
'We have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet,' the company said in a statement. 'None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple's systems, including iCloud or FindMyiPhone.'
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