Hackers identifying themselves as the “Turkish Crime Family” claim to have access to millions of iCloud accounts and are threatening to remotely wipe victims’ devices unless Apple pays them a ransom, Motherboard reports. The hackers have demanded either $100,000 worth of iTunes gift cards or $75,000 in Bitcoin or Ethereum to delete the data they claim to have stolen. One hacker provided unverified screenshots of email exchanges with Apple security and access to an email account used to communicate directly with Apple. In one email, a member of Apple’s security team asked, “Are you willing to share a sample of the data set?” The hackers then uploaded a YouTube video of them accessing an elderly woman’s iCloud, prompting Apple to allegedly request that the video be taken down and inform the hackers the company was contacting authorities.
The hackers are now threatening to reset a series of iCloud accounts on April 7 if their demands aren’t met, but their story does have some inconsistencies. While in one of the email exchanges a hacker claims to have access to over “300 million Apple email accounts,” another placed that number at 559 million. They also haven’t provided any of the stolen iCloud accounts to verify the claim, meaning the one shown in the video could have been obtained through other means. Apple declined multiple requests for comment.
