Apple iTunes App Store and Accounts Hacked
Several Apple iTunes users are complaining that their accounts are hacked and are being used to purchase apps running into hundreds of dollars for the last one week.
The hack was first discovered by an iPhone app developer, Patrick Thomson who told to blogger Alex Brie that a rouge Apple app developer from Vietnam, Thuat Nguyen has hacked the Apple app store rankings. He said that 40 out of 50 apps in the books category of iTunes US store rankings were developed by Thuat Nguyen under company, “My Company”. Here is an excerpt from Patrick Thomson’s message to Alex Brie.
It looks like the Books category has been hijacked by an app publisher named mycompany/Thuat Nguyen. His apps now occupy 40 of the top 50 ranks in the Books category on the app store. These are apps that typically wouldn’t rank in the Books category and most of them don’t have any ratings or reviews. However if you look at the reviews for the Conan 3 app, you can see that 2 reviewers complain (as early as Monday the 28th) that their iTunes accounts were hacked and the apps were purchased by the hacker. It would appear that this publisher is hacking accounts and buying his own apps in order to drive up his rankings in the Books category.
Brie later said that it was not just Thuat Nguyen apps ranking on the top but also several other Vietnamese developer apps are also ranked higher than need to. Here is a screenshot from the Apple iTunes Books Store.
Here is more alarming hack which several iTunes users complained on twitter and MacRumors forum that their accounts are being hacked to make illegal purchases from iTunes store. The purchases were made between $100 to $600 which is very alarming. The Next Web has reported that most of the illegal purchases are done to improve the respective app rankings on the iTunes store. Here are some messages from iTunes users on Twitter and MacRumors complaining about their account being hacked.
srslylia says on MacRumor
Yesterday my credit union contacted me saying there was suspicious activity on my debit card. Sure enough over 10 transactions in the $40-$50 area all on iTunes equaling to $558. This is definitely a problem, since then I’ve e-mailed MSNBC hoping they’ll pick up the story and investigate this problem.
tofublock says on MacRumor
A small $1.00-$3.00 charge, then random navigation apps totalling around $190.00. Cancelled the card and now working with credit union to get the charges removed.
I will never use my debit card with Itunes again.
Kristen Wahl(YourNYDreamHome) writes on Twitter
I’m ready to shoot someone at iTunes. Someone hacked my account and spent 100s of $s and they won’t let me talk to a REAL PERSON. Augh!!
The problem seems to be widespread as users from all over the world are reporting this. Apple has so far responded to only change iTunes passwords as of now till they look over the matter.
So its better if users change their iTunes passwords immediately and remove their credit card details from iTunes to avoid any illegal purchases from their accounts. We will get back to you when we get more details and updates on this.
Update: According to 9to5Mac, Apple has removed all the applications developed by rouge Vietnamese developer, Thuat Nguyen.
Via TheNextWeb, MacRumors, Alex Brie blog, Twitter
Source: iTunes
