AT&T's 'humiliating' iPad 3G privacy debacle

A web security group has exposed a significant security flaw in AT&T's network, reports Gawker, hacking into the private details of at least 114,000 Apple iPad 3G owners, including the email addresses and other contact information for CEOs, celebrities, top military commanders, and even White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. While the FBI launches an investigation into the breach, commentators have condemned (the already widely derided) AT&T for the network's vulnerability. Will this latest fiasco finally convince Apple to drop AT&T? (Watch a Bloomberg report about fallout from the iPad security breach)

Good riddance, AT&T: "If ever there were a reason for Apple to dump AT&T — this is it," says Jason D. O'Grady in ZDNet. Not properly protecting the contact information of "media moguls and celebrities" is one thing, but "I’m guessing that Al Qaeda would pay big bucks to have access to" the private data of commanders in the U.S. military. Even "I’m about to return my $900 iPad 3G."

"AT&T security breach exposes iPad 3G customer data"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

This is Apple's "embarrassment," too: This will complicate AT&T's "already fraught" relationship with Apple, says Ryan Tate in Gawker. But "although the security vulnerability was confined to AT&T servers," Apple also bears responsibility, since it requires users to provide "their email addresses to activate their iPads" and offers no other network options beyond AT&T.

"Apple's worst security breach: 114,000 iPad owners exposed"

Nobody (but AT&T) should panic: "Obviously, this is an ugly humiliation" for everyone involved, says John Paczkowski in All Things D. "But as a security breach, it’s not devastating." The only data revealed "were email addresses" and basic account information — not credit card details, social security numbers or home addresses. That said, "AT&T’s negligence here is deeply troubling — and worth remembering every time we entrust our personal data to someone else."

"Apple iPad email addresses exposed in AT&T security breach"