Anonymous Might Be Lying About Who They Took The Apple Device IDs From

Anonymous created a bit of a stir last week when they released 1 million Apple device IDs that they claimed to have stolen from an FBI laptop. The FBI and Apple both denied the claims. This morning...
Anonymous Might Be Lying About Who They Took The Apple Device IDs From
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Anonymous created a bit of a stir last week when they released 1 million Apple device IDs that they claimed to have stolen from an FBI laptop. The FBI and Apple both denied the claims. This morning’s revelation may show that the FBI was not involved in the least.

NBC got the scoop this morning that Anonymous attacked app publishing company BlueToad two weeks ago. In the attack, they were able to snag at least the one million device IDs that Anonymous leaked last week. They were able to come to that conclusion after an outside researcher told BlueToad that the data may have come from them. They did a comparison between their own data and that data released by Anonymous. They found it to have a 98 percent match.

A 98 percent match is not a 100 percent match though. BlueToad’s CEO Paul DeHart said that he can’t rule out the FBI somehow obtaining the Device IDs from their servers. It’s very unlikely, however, and it paints Anonymous in a bad light. The hacker collective has their own grudges against the FBI, but to lie about their involvement in a case might be taking it too far.

Either way, we still don’t know what exactly happened. Anonymous could very well have pilfered the information off of the FBI, but the data looks to have come from BlueToad’s servers just over two weeks ago. Anonymous claims to have stolen the data back in March. It could all be a coincidence, but once again, not likely.

The official Twitter account for AntiSec has not been updated since 17 hours ago. We’ve reached out for comment and we’ll update when they respond or address the situation via their account. As of Saturday, they were still boasting about the leak and goading the FBI.

For their part, BlueToad wants to apologize even if they turn out not to be the source of the leak. DeHart also says that the device IDs, by themselves, are harmless. A hacker can’t gain access to your personal information or track your whereabouts with the ID. It’s only when the ID is combined with the other data that Anonymous omitted from their dump that things could get dangerous.

This story isn’t over yet. Anonymous made a vague threat last week that may coincide with the reveal of the iPhone 5. We’ll continue to follow this story and let you know of any updates.

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