Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Hacker pleads guilty to stealing iPad user data

By

iPad HackerA hacker today admitted to stealing personal information and email addresses from about 114,000 users of Apple’s iPad. According to a press release issued by U.S. prosecutors in New Jersey, Daniel Spitler plead guilty today to identity theft and conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers. The 26-year old San Francisco-born hacker faces up to five years in prison for each count and a $250,000 fine. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on September 28. Andrew Auernheimer, Spitler’s alleged cohort, is still facing charges.

“Computer hackers are exacting an increasing toll on our society, damaging individuals and organizations to gain notoriety for themselves,” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said in a statment.

Recommended Videos

“Hacks have serious implications – from the personal devastation of a stolen identity to danger to our national security,” Fishman continued. “In the wake of other recent hacking attacks by loose-knit organizations like Anonymous and LulzSec, Daniel Spitler’s guilty plea is a timely reminder of the consequences of treating criminal activity as a competitive sport.”

Related

According to authorities, Spitler and Auernheimer wrote a program that targeted a security weakness in AT&T’s servers and allowed the pair to mine personal data from users of Apple’s 3G-ready iPad. Included in the purloined data were the email addresses of heads of major corporations, government officials and celebrities. Spitler and Auernheimer delivered the data to the blog Gawker, which published it in a redacted form, causing no shortage of embarrassment for AT&T.

According to prosecutors, Spitler and Auernheimer were members of a loose confederation of hackers that operated under the name Goatse. Spitler reportedly confessed to being a member of the group as part of his guilty plea. Auernheimer left police custody in March after posting $50,000 bail.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Aemon Malone
Aemon Malone
Former Digital Trends Contributor
How to use your iPad as a second monitor for your Mac
An iPad and an external display using Stage Manager in iPadOS 16.

One of the best parts of the Apple ecosystem is how neatly everything works together. Apple often gets flak for its "walled garden" approach, but when it works well, it enables the kind of productivity features that Android and PC rivals can only dream about. For example, you can use your iPad as a second screen for your Mac with minimal effort, and there's no need to fiddle with annoying cables and questionable software hacks.

Read more
Have an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch? You need to update it right now
iPhone 14 Pro Max against a red background.

If you own an Apple product — be in the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or a Mac — you should update it immediately. Why? Apple has begun rolling out updates to all of its devices with fixes for a serious security vulnerability.

The security vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-32434, and it has to do with the kernel privileges of Apple devices. Per Apple's website, the vulnerability allows third-party apps to "execute arbitrary code." In other words, if a bad actor knows how to exploit this vulnerability, they could potentially gain access to your Apple device and wreck havoc.

Read more
Apple’s next MacBooks and iPads could be in serious trouble
The MacBook Pro open on a wooden table.

Hype has been growing for Apple’s upcoming M3 chips, which are expected to splash down in a slate of Macs and iPads later this year. Yet one leaker has come along to spoil the party and has claimed that we won’t see anything of the sort until 2024.

That idea comes from Twitter leaker Revegnus, who tweeted that there would be “No M3 Mac or iPad for this year.” That will be disappointing news to anyone looking forward to laying their hands on the latest and greatest Apple silicon chips in the coming months.

Read more