Apple plans to give you more warning when you’re being hacked
The hackers who stole nude celebrity photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna and Kate Upton from their iCloud accounts could face federal child-porn charges, sources say.
Apple plans to send an alert to users when their iCloud backup is being downloaded to a new device, the company’s chief executive said days after several celebrities had their cache of photos, contacts and other data accessed by someone who posted nude photos from those archives to an online message board.
Whether the new alert would actually prevent a hacker from pilfering the data stored in iCloud is unclear. Apple didn’t immediately offer details on new security measures. Apple already warns users when a password is changed or an account is linked to a new device.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook and law enforcement officials have said that the celebrities’ accounts became vulnerable after celebrities gave up login information in response to email phishing attacks or had their security questions correctly answered by someone else.
Security experts are pushing Apple to widen the availability and better advertise a security measure called two-factor verification, in which a user receives a code on a second device that they must enter along with a password to link their account to a new product.
Criticism of Apple’s account security protocols could weaken willingness among users to trust the company with sensitive data, including on health-related products expected to be announced next week.
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