The FBI is now investigating AT&T’s recent security breach that revealed the email addresses of around 114,000 early adopter iPad 3G users, reports the Wall Street Journal. FBI spokeswoman Katherine Schweit wouldn’t comment to the WSJ on specifics of the case.
A hacker group called Goatse Security accessed the data via a script on AT&T’s website and sent the data to Gawker, which published a scathing exposé. The company has since closed the vulnerability after one of its business customers made it aware of the issue. In addition to email addresses, the hack revealed ICC-IDs for the iPad 3Gs, which are used to authenticate subscribers on AT&T’s network. Luckily, there’s little that a hacker could do with the ICC-IDs.
According to Gawker, the leak included government users, which may explain the FBI’s quick involvement:
Affected accounts included a GMail user who appears to be Rahm Emanuel and staffers in the Senate, House of Representatives, Department of Justice, NASA, Department of Homeland Security, FAA, FCC, and National Institute of Health, among others. Dozens of employees of the federal court system also appeared on the list.
The FBI’s investigation is broad, and will cover more than just the impact of the security breach on federal employees, writes Main Justice. While security leaks are never a good thing, AT&T and iPad 3G users should be grateful that only email addresses were revealed this time around.
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