AllThingsD reports that Apple (AAPL) has finally hit back at hacktivist group AntiSec that says it obtained unique device identifiers [UDIDs] and other personal information of more than 12 million Apple users by accessing the laptop of an FBI special agent.
AntiSec claimed yesterday the FBI hacking and posted 1 million of the UDIDs online to prove the attack was genuine.
“The FBI has not requested this information from Apple, nor have we provided it to the FBI or any organization. Additionally, with iOS 6 we introduced a new set of APIs meant to replace the use of the UDID and will soon be banning the use of UDID,” Apple spokesperson Natalie Kerris told AllThingsD.
Apple also said that if the FBI has iPhone and iPad UDIDs, it didn’t get them from the company.
The FBI branded Antisec’s story, which has raised serious questions as to why the FBI would be holding such information, totally false, saying in an official statement that the “FBI is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI laptop was compromised and private data regarding Apple UDIDs was exposed. At this time, there is no evidence indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the FBI either sought or obtained this data.”
The bureau also issued a statement via Twitter strongly denying any involvement in storing user IDs, which would give rise to state surveillance allegations. “We never had info in question. Bottom line: totally false,” the tweet said.
In response to the FBI’s statement, AntiSec noted via the AnonymousIRC channel that “this is far from denial,” and continued to taunt the agency.
“Before you deny too much: Remember we’re sitting on 3TB additional data. We have not even started,” it said. According to the group the UDIDs were stored in a file named NCFTA_iOS_devices_intel.csv. NCFTA stands for National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance and is an alliance between businesses, academics and law enforcements aimed at cracking down on cybercrime.
It will be interesting to see AntiSec’s next move.
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