Bloomberg is reporting that Apple and Meta —the parent company of Facebook — provided customer data to hackers who claimed to be law enforcement officers.
The hackers apparently used forged “emergency data requests” to get customers’ addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses, Bloomberg’s exclusive investigation discovered.
SCOOP: Apple and Facebook provided user data in response to forged legal requests sent by hackers using compromised law enforcement email systems, according to three people familiar with the matter. Full story with much more details to follow.
— William Turton (@WilliamTurton) March 30, 2022
Normally, requests for that information are fulfilled when companies are presented with a search warrant or subpoena accompanied by a judge’s signature.
Emergency requests do not require a court order.
Bloomberg reported it is not clear how many times Apple and Meta released the data in response to the fake requests.
Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, was also given false documentation but it is not clear if it gave any information to the alleged hackers.
When Bloomberg asked Apple for comment, the tech giant referred reporters to its law enforcement guidelines, which state that a supervisor for the person who submitted the legal request “may be contacted and asked to confirm to Apple that the emergency request was legitimate.”
Meta spokesman Andy Stone told Bloomberg in a statement, “We review every data request for legal sufficiency and use advanced systems and processes to validate law enforcement requests and detect abuse.”
Snap had no official comment, but a spokesperson said it has safeguards to prevent fraudulent requests, Bloomberg reported.
For more on this story, visit Bloomberg.com.
Check back for more on this developing story.
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