facebook 
twitter 
linkedin 
stumbleupon 
On Monday, September 4th, members of the organization AntiSec, which is a movement opposed to computer security, released 1,000,001 unique identifiers, or UDID numbers. These are tied to different Apple products and devices. The IDs, which have been confirmed as real, are allegedly part of a larger file that was taken by anonymous hackers who infiltrated an FBI laptop. The larger, complete file, claims to have over 12 million UDID’s along with personal information on each user including their names, addresses and phone numbers; however, of the 1 million UDID’s released on Monday by the hackers, no one’s personal information was released.
So how do you know if your device was picked up? Unfortunately, the only way to determine if a UDID from your Apple device — with your name, phone number and other personal data — is included among the hacked data, is to look at the hackers list. Remember though, this is only 10% of the data the hackers claim to have; users with devices not included in the initial data file may still be affected.
If you own an Apple device, there’s nothing you can do at this point. You can’t just change your UDID the way you can change a password. There are websites with searches to see if your device was among the 1 million, but it might not be worth looking into until the full 12 million are released; if released. To access your UDID, plug your device into your computer, open iTunes, select your device from the left column, then click on the serial number mid-screen to obtain your UDID.
It’s unclear if Apple, or the FBI, will do anything about the leak, or even mention it; moreover, it is unclear what a malicious person could do with the information these UDID’s have. For now, brush up, update, and install protection and keep your computers secure and malware free.
