Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iCloud
storage and backup service in China was attacked by hackers trying to steal
user credentials, a Chinese web monitoring group said, adding that it believes
the country's government is behind the campaign.
Using what is called a
"man-in-the-middle" (MITM) attack, the hackers interposed their own website
between users and Apple's iCloud server, intercepting data and potentially
gaining access to passwords, iMessages, photos and contacts, Greatfire.org
wrote in its blog post.
Greatfire.org, a group that
conducts research on Chinese Internet censorship, alleged government
involvement in the attack, saying it resembled previous attacks on Google Inc (GOOG.O), Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O)
and Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Hotmail.
Asked about the attack, Hua
Chunying, a spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry, told a daily news
briefing that Beijing was "resolutely opposed" to hacking. She said
the Chinese government itself was a major victim of such attacks.
The attack cited by Greatfire comes
several weeks after Apple said it would begin storing iCloud data for Chinese
users on China Telecom (0728.HK) servers.
It also coincided with the start of
iPhone 6 sales in China, which began Friday after weeks of talks between China
and Apple over what the government said were cyber security concerns.
Two independent security experts
contacted by Reuters said Greatfire's report appeared credible.
"All the evidence I've seen
would support that this is a real attack," said Mikko Hypponnen, chief
research officer at security software developer F-Secure. "The Chinese
government is directly attacking Chinese users of Apple's products."
Greatfire.org said the attack most
likely could not have been staged without the knowledge of Internet providers
like China Telecom, given they appeared to originate from "deep within the
Chinese domestic Internet backbone".
But the group said the attack may
not be linked to Apple's recent decision to store user data on China Telecom
servers.
"The previous MITM attacks all
showed the same characteristics as this one," Greatfire.org co-founder
Charlie Smith said by email. "Apple did not need to be doing anything with
China Telecom for this attack to happen, i.e. the authorities did not need that
relationship to stage an attack like this one."
It was unclear if the hackers were
still active. Apple did not have an immediate comment when contacted.
A China Telecom spokesman said:
"The accusation is untrue and unfounded."
Apple said at the time the move to
China Telecom was made to improve the speed of service for Chinese servers and
flatly denied the possibility that it would expose user data.
The United States and Western companies
have accused Chinese-backed hackers of infiltrating government and corporate
websites and services, but Beijing has repeatedly denied its involvement in
such attacks
This was reporting by Jim Finkle in BOSTON and Gerry Shih and Ben
Blanchard in BEIJING.
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