Over the weekend, we reported on an app store developer who was shooting up the paid “books” charts, using what appeared to be fraud. Stories of iTunes accounts being hacked and used to purchase the apps were linked to the story. Apple has released the following statement on the matter:
The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns.Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded.If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about canceling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorized transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.
So that’s something of a half-hearted confirmation that something bad happened.
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I love how there is no mention of the possibility that the hacker(s) obtained the card info from iTunes. That would make Apple partly liable, wouldn’t it? And they already have their crack team of lawyers spread increasingly thin….
I will say this though, any time there was ever a possibility that my account information MIGHT have been compromised with any other commerce site, they always bent over backwards to ensure that I was protected. This included contacting my CC company and letting them know about the information theft, forced reset of my password the next time I logged in, and forced update to security measures like secret questions and such. Apple seems more like, “Wow, you might want to be careful with your information.”
What???? Someone hack Apple’s unhackable code???? As impossible as that unsinkable ship sinking…..now what was the name of that boat????…..just sayin’……
Apple really has been pushing the blame lately. Next they will say its your own fault for buying from us.
I was unfortunately one of the people affected. He charged over $400 in iPad apps to my account and I had to go through a process with iTunes and my bank. Damn pain in the ass.