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Hackers Who Locked Apple Devices Via iCloud [Arrested]

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Previously, we’ve talked about some of Apple users in Australia received a messages from hackers demanded 100 USD/EUR to unlock their iOS devices, those hackers arrested.

Hacker-arristed

It seems that the hackers didn’t hack Apple’s service they just created Phishing sites to lure victims and steal their passwords

The hackers – aged 17 and 23 – were detained in the course of “operational activities” by the Russian Interior Ministry, Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said. They are both residents of the southern administrative district of Moscow and one has been tried before, it said.

According to Russian media outlet MKRU, the hackers were caught by CCTV when they withdrew victims’ ransom money from an ATM.

MKRU added that the 23-year-old, “Ivan”, was “madly keen on computers and hacking”.
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“The young man never studied or worked and was always looking for easy ways to make money,” MKRU said.

The unnamed 17-year-old was reportedly his accomplice.

When the hackers were detained, their apartments were searched, during which time PCs, SIM cards, phones, and literature on hacking were seized.

The suspects also gave a confession, Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

Their detainment was announced in Russian on the website of Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs at 3.40pm AEST on Monday.

It is unclear at this stage if the Russian hackers are the same ones who demanded payment from Australian Apple device owners late last month.

It appears that just over a week before Australian users began reporting similar hijacking attacks, a Russian publication reported Russian citizens were being targeted. The same hackers then may have used their techniques to hijack Australian devices although it it may have been copycats.

In announcing the hackers had been detained, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said its Interior Ministry had successfully “stopped the activities of the group of persons involved in the blocking of Apple devices to extort funds”. It said the hackers used two “well-established” schemes to conduct their activities.

“The first was to gain access to the Apple ID of a victim’s account by creating phishing pages, [gaining] unauthorised access to email, or using social engineering techniques,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs said. “The second scheme was aimed at binding … devices to a pre-arranged account.”

The pre-arranged account was one that hackers owned then “leased”, or sold, to users by offering movies and music. But in order to access the content, users needed to link their devices to the account, which left the devices vulnerable to being hijacked by hackers who knew the log-in details.

Apple customers affected by similar antics in Australia included iPad, iPhone and Mac owners in Queensland, NSW, Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria, who reported having their devices held hostage. Users in the US and other parts of the world also reported being affected.

Many affected users in Australia reported being woken early in the morning last month to a loud “lost phone” message that said “Oleg Pliss” had hacked their phone. They were then instructed to send an amount of money varying from $US50 to $US100 ($53.50 to $107) to the hackers to have it unlocked.

If a passcode was set on their devices the users could simply enter it, change their iCloud password and avoid having to deal with the ransom. But if no passcode was set, device owners reported having to erase their entire device. If a back-up existed, this could then be used to restore it.

Security experts suggested stolen log-in credentials were likely being used from previous data breaches for the Australian attacks.

The Australian Government’s Stay Smart Online service and the NSW police issued warnings to Apple users following the ransom attempts, which stated that as a precaution users should change their AppleID/iCloud passwords. SMH, reported.

Here you are few steps to change your Apple ID/iCloud password:

Go to My Apple ID (appleid.apple.com).
Click “Manage your Apple ID” and sign in.
If you have two-step verification turned on, you’ll be asked to send a verification code to the trusted device associated with your Apple ID. If you’re unable to receive messages at your trusted device, follow the guidelines for what to do if you can’t sign in with two-step verification.
Click “Password and Security”.
In the “Choose a new password” section, click Change Password.
Enter your old password, then enter a new password and confirm the new password. Click Save when done.

[Source: Apple]

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