An iOS app developer says they were the source of the recent leak of the personal data of 12 million people. That's despite claims by our Anonymous 'friends', who said they got the file from the FBI.
In IT Blogwatch, bloggers wonder if that exonerates the FBI, or if there's more to the story.
By Richi Jennings: Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment.
Kerry Sanders and Bob Sullivan report:
The admission...contradicts Anonymous' claim that [it] stole the data from an FBI agent's laptop. ... Paul DeHart, CEO of the Blue Toad publishing company, [said] his firm downloaded the data...and compared it to the company's own database. ... "100 percent confidence level, it's our data," DeHart said....
DeHart said he could not rule out the possibility that the data...eventually made its way onto an FBI computer. ... Both Apple and the FBI [denied] they were conspiring...to track U.S. citizens; the FBI said it never had the data. MORE
Lucian Constantin adds:
Bluetoad develops digital distribution technologies [including] iOS and Android apps that...publishers use to distribute...more than 2,000 titles in digital format every month....
Over the past several years, iOS app developers have used UDIDs to identify and track devices. ... Because of the privacy concerns...Apple has started to phase out the use of UDIDs. MORE
BlueToad CEO Paul DeHart blogs this mea culpa:
BlueToad was the victim of a criminal cyber attack. ... When we discovered that we were the likely source...we immediately reached out to law enforcement....
We sincerely apologize to our partners, clients, publishers, employees and users of our apps. ... BlueToad does not collect, nor have we ever collected, highly sensitive personal information. ... We have now also discontinued storing any UDID information. MORE
And Ted Samson lets down his hair:
Apple will discontinue the use of UDIDs with iOS 6....
Though apologetic about the breach, DeHart provided zero insights as to how hackers got their hands on the Blue Toad's UDID trove. ... Blue Toad is one of many companies, including LinkedIn, Yahoo...to suffer breaches...in recent months....
The company's admission evidently clears the FBI of AntiSec's accusation that it's been compiling UDIDs to track U.S. citizens. ... Still, it remains plausible that the file...found its way onto the FBI network. MORE
So did the FBI get hacked, or not? It wouldn't be the first time, notes Darlene Storm:
You may recall that in February, [Anonymous] tapped into a conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard. ... After the humiliating eavesdrop was made public [the] FBI stated, "The information was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained."...
The AntiSec group that dumped the data suggested the FBI will “deny or ignore”...but that “someone should care” how the feds got all this info. MORE