The researcher claims to have gained access to over 100,000 user accounts

Jul 22, 2013 06:58 GMT  ·  By

Apple has published a statement claiming that an intruder attempted to steal the details of registered developers from the company’s developer website. However, it turns out that the attacker wasn’t a cybercriminal, but a security researcher.

Shortly after Apple made the announcement, security expert Ibrahim Balic published a video showing that he has gained access to the details of over 100,000 users by exploiting a vulnerability in the Cupertino company’s systems.

Balic highlights the fact that this wasn’t a “hack attack.”

“I have reported all the bugs I have found to the company and waited for approval. I am being accused of hacking but I have not given any harm to the system and i did not wanted to damage,” Balic said.

In a comment posted in response to a TechCrunch article, the researcher said that he identified a total of 13 flaws in Apple’s systems, one of which impacted the Developer Center.

Balic showed Apple the details of 73 user accounts to demonstrate the seriousness of the security hole, but the company didn’t take the news too well.

“4 hours later from my final report Apple developer portal gas closed down and you know it still is. I have emailed and asked if I am putting them in any difficulty so that I can give a break to my research. I have not gotten any respond to this,” the expert noted.

“I have been waiting since then for them to contact me, and today I'm reading news saying that they have been attacked and hacked. In some of the media news I watch/read that whether legal authorities were involved in its investigation of the hack,” he added.

“I'm not feeling very happy with what I read and a bit irritated, as I did not done this research to harm or damage. I didn't attempt to publish or have not shared this situation with anybody else. My aim was to report bugs and collect the datas for the porpoise of seeing how deep I can go within this scope.”

Here is the video published by Balic: