AT&T recently leaked more than 100,000 private email addresses of Apple iPad 3G owners’ email addresses in what is turning into a public relations horror story for the two companies.
The exact number of leaked emails is unknown, but some reports, like one by PC World, say the number may exceed 114,000.
Goatse Security analysts Larry Magid and Jim Jeffers answered some questions in an interview with CBS News indicating that security for the customer information was almost nonexistent.
“One of our employees is an iPad 3G subscriber, and he noticed it in the process of the normal user experience of this device. It was something he just noticed as he was using it,” said Jeffers on CBS.
Other computer specialists and internet watchdogs are saying Goatse Security is a hacker group. A recent publication in Computer World indicated that the company used a basic automated PHP script to pull in the email addresses.
“What we did was right. We believe what we did was ethical,” Escher Auernheimer from Goatse Security told Computer World.
Goatse Security said they used this as an opportunity to show both the public and large corporations how easily private information can be lifted via the Internet. Seemingly hidden information can be collected online when the proper software is implemented or when adequate Internet security is lacking, they added.
With the Internet having no specific restrictions on content, most companies learn how to protect themselves and their customers through trial and error.
The exact number of leaked emails is unknown, but some reports, like one by PC World, say the number may exceed 114,000.
Goatse Security analysts Larry Magid and Jim Jeffers answered some questions in an interview with CBS News indicating that security for the customer information was almost nonexistent.
“One of our employees is an iPad 3G subscriber, and he noticed it in the process of the normal user experience of this device. It was something he just noticed as he was using it,” said Jeffers on CBS.
Other computer specialists and internet watchdogs are saying Goatse Security is a hacker group. A recent publication in Computer World indicated that the company used a basic automated PHP script to pull in the email addresses.
“What we did was right. We believe what we did was ethical,” Escher Auernheimer from Goatse Security told Computer World.
Goatse Security said they used this as an opportunity to show both the public and large corporations how easily private information can be lifted via the Internet. Seemingly hidden information can be collected online when the proper software is implemented or when adequate Internet security is lacking, they added.
With the Internet having no specific restrictions on content, most companies learn how to protect themselves and their customers through trial and error.
