A group of computer hackers has collected email addresses from 114,000 people in the United States who own an Apple 3G iPad-- and the list includes senior political, military and business officials.
The hackers, known as Goatse Security, say they're dedicated to exploiting gaps in high-tech security. To get hold of the email address of 3G iPad owners they exploited a vulnerability in the network of AT&T, the exclusive telecommunications carrier for the iPad in the U.S.
According to the gossip site Gawker, the hackers guessed at the identification number, or ICC-ID, of iPads sold in the U.S. and used that number to obtain the email address of the owner.
Many of the email addresses belong to elite figures in government and industry, including staff of an advanced military research department, and public institutions from the Senate to the federal court system.
The hackers also found email addresses for executives at the New York Times, Dow Jones, Time Warner and a host of financial institutions including Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, Gawker reported.
AT&T issued a statement acknowledging the hack. It said the company was informed of the security problem by a customer on Monday, and that it was fixed on Tuesday.
"The only information that can be derived from the ICC IDS is the e-mail address attached to that device," the company said. "We have essentially turned off the feature that provided the e-mail addresses."
"We are continuing to investigate and will inform all customers whose e-mail addresses and ICC IDS may have been obtained," the statement continues. "We take customer privacy very seriously and while we have fixed this problem, we apologize to our customers who were impacted."
Apple has not commented on the matter.
