Apple say 400 iTunes accounts hit with fraud

A few days ago KitGuru reported on a suspected iTunes hack, caused by a rogue app developer. Apple have today admited that 400 iTunes accounts were illegally hacked and the suspected developer has been banned from the store.

Thuat Nguygen and his programs were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement' Apple's Trudy Muller said by email. At one stage his apps were taking 42 out of the top 50 positions on the book sales chart. This was the perfect category to target as it only needs minimal sales here to achieve top positions.

Muller also said that the iTunes servers were not comprised and that Nguyen didn't manage to access any personal user information when his apps were downloaded. Apple have also instructed people who downloaded his applications to contact their bank and cancel the credit card on their account. We would hope to see Apple prosecuting Nguyen for his actions.

In regards to this case, one good thing has came from it … Apple are probably going to enhance security by asking customers for their CCV number on a more regular basis. This would help security as the CCV number is not held by Apples servers.

KitGuru says: While it sounds bad, considering the user base of iTunes, there are actually very few cases of fraud in this manner.

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