Q: iTunes store account hacked

I was hacked this past weekend.  Thankfully American Express called me that my card was compromised.  I did not realize it was from I-Tunes.  Becasue I bought music, I changed my Credit Card info on I-Tune, as soon as I changed the credit card, that one was also hacked,  It tool all of 20 minutes for my card to be hacked. 

I think it is horrendous on Apples end that this can happen.  I have since changed my password, though I am still not comfortable with buying anything with a credit card.  I think I will buy I-tunes gift cards. 

I am shocked that is happening so much, and they do nothing.

My account was hacked so many times Apple finally, after months of implying that *I* was the problem, deactivated it.  I never did put a credit card on the account, and I never would.  iTunes store "security" is a complete joke.

Just replying to the general topic. I thought it was just me having problems. Went to 2 step authentication with a really strong password last summer and have not had problems since....knock on wood.

I have been having problems with being hacked ever since I got my first Macbook and iPhone over three years ago. Luckily, I had purchased the extra support and warranty, and because I still have a case open regarding all of this, I was told my warranty was still good for support.  But even having got up a level with Apple support - I had actual numbers and extensions and names - it has been such a frustrating experience that I can't even begin to go into it all. And it's not like I'm ignorant about all the stuff as prior to retirement my job was network and support but in the PC environment. There are lots and lots of articles coming out more and more these days about problems with Apple equipment. I think the best we could use just keep complaining and writing about it on any other form that we happen to go on. Good luck - I think more and more of us are going to need it!

Sad to report that my iTunes was hacked by an Apple employee here in Lynnwood, wa. The store did nothing about this! They lied and covered up for him . Sure, I received several apologies but he's still employed. I'm never trusting the  Again.

The iTunes for Windows forum also has a thread running on Apple ID compromises, we've got a lot of people saying their account was accessed and apps were downloaded in Taiwan -

https://discussions.apple.com/message/24351370#24351370

This is only over the last 2-3 weeks, really, but I see this thread has been running for over 2 years(!). My wife's account was accessed and her password changed, and 2 seemingly innocuous apps were downloaded. She's reset password and I'm urging her to enable 2-factor auth ASAP (I've done it).

If these are brute force attacks, the frequency of the access seems quite low: I wonder if there's a leak within apple (at least one poster on this thread says his account was hacked from within Apple!)... perhaps in Taiwan.

I just got off the phone with Apple support because my credit balance was accessed by someone from China, according to the email I received. My account already shows that Apple credited me for each unauthorized purchase within minutes of my phone call, but I was told that it might take a few business days for the actual refund to go through.

I kept getting messages to change my password for my Apple ID and I never thought to change the password on my email account. This is my first experience with someone hacking an account of mine after using the internet for so many years without incident and it has been quite disturbing.

Laura Mae wrote:

 

I kept getting messages to change my password for my Apple ID

Then that's almost certainly where you made your mistake.  Apple rarely sends those out, but I've received many that were phishing attempts with a fake Apple site.

Thank you, MadMacs0, I had no idea what I was doing wrong. In future I will contact Apple support before changing anything.

My iTunes Store account has been hacked too on Jan 5th.  I received an email from Apple informing me that my Applie ID was just used to download Music Hits from the App Store on a computer or device that had not previously been associated with my Apple ID.  It states the download was initiated in Taiwan.  I'm in the U.S.  The app was free.  The app did appear on my computer's ITunes and on my iPhone.  I hid them.  I could not find a way to delete it.  I changed my password and security questions.  I then did a scan on my house PC computer and found the computer had 3 viruses - all 3 having Java in the item name.  I know Java is bad news regarding security.  I had turned on Java in Internet Explorer 9 to look at a map and then forgot to turn it back off a few months ago.  Do you think having Java on and my computer compromised with virsuses - that this is how my iTune Store account was gotten into?  Another possible clue - I updated Internet Explorer 9 to version 11 a few days before being hacked.

n488 wrote:

 

I then did a scan on my house PC computer and found the computer had 3 viruses - all 3 having Java in the item name.  I know Java is bad news regarding security.  I had turned on Java in Internet Explorer 9 to look at a map and then forgot to turn it back off a few months ago.  Do you think having Java on and my computer compromised with virsuses - that this is how my iTune Store account was gotten into?  Another possible clue - I updated Internet Explorer 9 to version 11 a few days before being hacked.

Without the exact names of the malware and what scanner identified them, it's impossible to even guess what they are capable of. Obviously you need to keep your PC fully up-to-date just as much or more than your Mac to prevent being attacked. If either IE 9 or Java was not up-to-date, it's certainly possible that it was used to harvest your iTunes credentials, but as we've seen there are many other ways this could have happened.

First scan done with Microsoft Security Essentials - found 2 files:

trojandownloader:java/openconne.....

exploit:java/CVE-2010-0842

Second scan done with Kaspersky Rescue Disk - found 1 file:

ilow/sun/java/deployment/cache/6.0/23/343a.8f57-2406e8cf

I'm using Firefox now & disabled Java in Firefox add-ons.  Java is on my PC's Control Panel.  Any suggestions on what I should do with this Java with regards to securing my computer?

n488 wrote:

 

First scan done with Microsoft Security Essentials - found 2 files:

trojandownloader:java/openconne.....

exploit:java/CVE-2010-0842

As I said, I'm way out of my element with PC malware.

The second is very old (Apr 2010) and is described here as "Unspecified vulnerability in the Sound component in Oracle Java SE [] 6 Update 18, 5.0 Update 23, 1.4.2_25, and 1.3.1_27 allows remote attackers to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors." These are ancient versions of Java that have all been patched multiple times since and are all presently unsupported (i.e. obsolete). Unless that PC's Java was still over three years old, it's unlikely that particular vulnerability was used. The descriptions given are vague (as usual), but certainly a possible explanation.

Java is on my PC's Control Panel.  Any suggestions on what I should do with this Java with regards to securing my computer?

Just that you need to always keep it up-to-date. Visiting java.com will tell you what you have and need.

You might find more help if you post in the iTunes for Windows forum. This is the iTunes for Mac forum.

Another one for the list, apparently I just downloaded Castle Clash from Taiwan!!!! Apple you're seriously incompetent I don't think you're responsible enough to be holding people's sensitive information!!!!