Hacker group leaks 1 million Apple IDs from breached FBI computer

A hacker group associated with Anonymous claims to have "released" 1 million Apple unique device identifiers (UDIDs) that were poached from a computer belonging to an FBI agent.

The group, AntiSec, which is considered an offshoot of the hacker collective Anonymous, said in a Pastebin post published late Monday that it accessed a list of more than 12 million Apple UDIDs — the unique set of numbers assigned to each iPhone, iPad and other Apple devices — and also zip codes, user names, mobile numbers and other personal information about device owners from a Dell laptop owned by FBI Supervisor Special Agent Christopher Stangl. They said the hack occurred this past March.

AntiSec said they "decided a million [UDIDs] would be enough to release" from the list of data for more than 12 million Apple devices that was allegedly accessed from Stangl's computer. The hackers also claimed to have stripped out personal data from the UDIDs, such as full names, mobile numbers, addresses and zip codes.

The group said it decided to publicly release the list of data because it suggested that the FBI was storing people's device information for some sort of tracking project, or other suspicious purpose. They also spoke out against Apple's use of UDIDs, saying it was "a really bad decision for the company."

AntiSec added that "no other file on the same folder makes mention about this list or its purpose."

The FBI and Apple could not be reached for comment.

It's unclear what the damage of the hack will be, but the incident is a very public swipe at the FBI. This past spring the FBI charged five hackers that claimed to be associated with Anonymous, LulzSec and AntiSec of computer hacking and other crimes. However, the group didn't say in its Pastebin post that the hack was in retaliation for the arrests.

Stangl had appeared in a 2009 recruiting video on behalf of the FBI that called on cybersecurity experts to join its cyber team.

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