14 DAY TRIAL // A security breach in AT&T's web site has exposed the personal information of a great deal of the carrier's iPad 3G customers, a recent report shows. According to the news, a number of around 114,000 user accounts have been compromised, including those of CEOs, military officials, and top politicians. However, the problem might actually be more serious than that, and there are chances that confidential information of all iPad 3G owners in the U.S. has been exposed.
“The specific information exposed in the breach included subscribers' email addresses, coupled with an associated ID used to authenticate the subscriber on AT&T's network, known as the ICC-ID. ICC-ID stands for integrated circuit card identifier and is used to identify the SIM cards that associate a mobile device with a particular subscriber,” a recent article on gawker reads.
Wireless carrier AT&T already confirmed the breach, and announced that it managed to patch the hole. However, the victims still seem to be unaware of what happened. Even so, the issue is seen as a major one, especially considering the fact that the device has been on sale only for several weeks. The problem is said to be AT&T's fault, and word on the street is that the relationship between the company and Apple might get even more complicated than it already is.
However, gawker says that, “although the security vulnerability was confined to AT&T servers, Apple bears responsibility for ensuring the privacy of its users, who must provide the company with their email addresses to activate their iPads. This is particularly the case given that U.S. iPad 3G customers have no choice in mobile carriers - AT&T has an exclusive lock, at least for now. Given the lock-in and the tight coupling of the iPad with AT&T's cellular data network, Apple has a pronounced responsibility to patrol the network vendors it chooses to align and share customer data with.”
The security breach AT&T faced might determine users not to go for the device, which is another problem, considering the fact that the iPad 3G has just begun rolling out. The 3G-less model did enjoy high popularity among users, and the new version was expected to follow suit, yet one might think twice before spending up to $830 and $25 per month for the iPad, knowing that AT&T's service has glitches, gawker suggests.