Apple: iCloud is safe but your password may not

In response to a challenge from a hacker group that has claimed to hold hundreds of millions of iCloud accounts, Apple has confirmed there are no security holes in its system. 

According to Betanews , last Tuesday, a Turkish hacker group called Crime Family has stated that they are holding hundreds of millions of users iCloud account. The hacker group also asked Apple to pay them a $ 75,000 ransom via Bitcoin virtual currency or $ 100,000 through iTunes gift cards. If not met, they will wipe out the iCloud accounts they are holding.

The bold challenge of the Turkish Crime Family has led many to believe that they have hacked iCloud. However, Apple has affirmed that " there are no security holes " in any of its systems, including iCloud and Appe ID.

" The list of hacker email addresses and passwords has been apparently taken from third-party hacked services since before, " Apple representative said.

In the past few years, hackers have been stealing user's e-mail and password information, such as Yahoo's exposure to one billion accounts. The hacker may have obtained the user's iCloud account information through hacking they did earlier.

So far, Apple has not added any security measures to deal with the hacker threat. However, the company said it was "actively monitoring to prevent unauthorized access to user accounts and working with law enforcement agencies to identify the hacker group identity ."

At first, a member of the Turkish Crime Family claimed to have hacked over 300 million iCloud accounts, but then another member said that they had 559 million accounts in hand. There is suspicion in the statement of this hacker group but the threat from them should not be overlooked.

In addition, the motherboard, the first technology news site about the Turkish Crime Family, also said that they did not provide any proof that iCloud was hacked. The hacker group contacted Apple for ransom and the company asked for more information. However, they said they did not want to share evidence of what was said.

Apple has a deadline until April 7 to meet the requirements of the hacker group. After that period, they may delete or sell the user's iCloud account to a party of interest.

To protect your iCloud account, you should change your current password to a stronger password immediately.Especially when your iCloud account has the same username and password as previously hacked services such as Yahoo or LinkedIn. In addition, you should enable iCloud's dual-layer authentication to increase the security of your account.