Seeking to reassure customers after the news of repeated breaches of its network broke yesterday, Apple said that no user data was compromised in the attacks, reports Reuters.
The statement follows the 16-year-old Melbourne-based student’s appearance in court: according to statements by his lawyer, he had broken into Apple’s mainframe multiple times over the course of a year, and downloaded 90GB of files.
It’s worth noting that Apple’s statement doesn’t line up with the lawyer’s claim that the teen accessed customer accounts. If that part is true, it would almost certainly amount to users’ data being compromised.
According to The Age, the hacker was supposedly done in last year when an Australian Federal Police raid at his home led investigators to a folder on his laptop containing pertinent files and instructions, labeled ‘hacky hack hack.’
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
He came to their attention after Apple detected and blocked his intrusions, and the company subsequently contacted the US’ FBI for assistance.
According to his lawyer, the teen broke into Apple’s systems repeatedly because he was an ardent fan of the trillion-dollar company. He reportedly told police that he had dreamed of working for the firm.
He’ll likely have to wait a bit to see if that ever comes to pass: following his plea of ‘guilty,’ his sentencing has been stood down until next month, and the charges could keep him on ice for a good while.
We’ve contacted Apple to learn more and will update this post if there’s a response.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.