Q: Does AOL Security Breach Affect Apple ID's Used in Messages?
AOL today disclosed a massive security breach and urged all users to change their passwords:
http://blog.aol.com/2014/04/28/aol-security-update/
Does anyone know if this affects Apple IDs used to sign into AIM via Apple Messages? Are Apple IDs compromised, or are passwords not disclosed in AIM authentication?
I know it would be safest just to change the Apple ID password, but it then is such a pain to change that across multiple Macs and iOS devices and services. I don't want to do it right now if I don't have to...
Thanks,
Drew
MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)
Posted on Apr 28, 2014 1:01 PM
Hi,
If you are using @mac.com names as valid AIM Screen Names I would change the passwords as these are not subject to the double check against Apple and AIM that @me.com and @icloud.com names issued under iCloud are.
The @me.com and @icloud.com ones are subject to iChat 6 or Messages 7 or 8 logging in to both Apple and AIM before AIM can "read" the password.
The @mac.com ones are on a different server and AIM can read this without the checks that iChat 6 and Messages make on the iCloud issued names.
I see AOL estimate that only 2% of users are effected.
It would be interesting to know what the figure is for temporary suspended accounts due to "unusual Activity " that they normally have.
@mac.com users had an issue with this about a year ago if they had travelled out of their normal country.
9:49 pm Monday; April 28, 2014
G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
Mac OS X (10.6.8),
Couple of iPhones and an iPad
Posted on Apr 28, 2014 1:49 PM



