Hackers Threaten to Wipe Out Millions of iCloud Accounts if Apple doesn’t Pay $75K

A group of hackers are trying to extort Apple with the threat of wiping out thousands of iCloud accounts and remotely resetting iPhones. They say they’ll follow through if Apple doesn’t pay up US$75,000 in Bitcoin or Ethereum by April 7th.

Hackers trying to extort Apple with threat of wiping out iCloud accounts

The hackers are going by the name Turkish Crime Family, and are demanding payment in either of the crypto-currencies. Alternately, they say they’ll accept $100,000 in iTunes gift cards.

The TCF shared their plan with Motherboard saying, “I just want my money and thought this would be an interesting report that a lot of Apple customers would be interested in reading and hearing.”

The hackers say they have access to over 300 million accounts and may have shared their plan with Motherboard in hopes of pressuring Apple into paying up. That doesn’t, however, look like something Apple is interested in doing.

The email interaction between Apple and the hackers shows the iPhone and iPad maker isn’t ready to play along. Apple told the group, “We would like you to know that we do not reward cyber criminals for breaking the law,” adding that their email communications are being handed over to law enforcement.

TCF isn’t sharing a list of accounts they plan to wipe. Presumably they’re accounts where two-factor authentication isn’t enabled. Two-factor authentication requires an additional one-use access code along with your password to access your account.

If you haven’t enabled two-factor authentication for your Apple ID and iCloud account yet, now looks like a really good time.

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