iMessage hack floods Apple users with Chinese texts
Some Apple users are suffering a hack tied to their iMessage accounts, according to one victim of the hack and others on Twitter.
A Mashable employee on Wednesday morning saw a message in her computer’s iMessage account from a foreign number she didn’t recognize, with the message written in Chinese characters.
Shortly after, she received a notification that her Apple ID was being used on another device.
The only option prompted by this notification was to click “OK,” and after she did so she was flooded with similar Chinese iMessage and SMS messages.
The Mashable employee changed her password and security questions and contacted Apple Support, where a representative told her many people had been calling about this problem this morning.
The hack was likely an attempt to steal personal information, the Apple support representative said. The representative said the hack was fairly new and Apple’s developers were working on it. For now, she said, there was no way to tell if personal information was stolen.
Users on Twitter appear to be having similar problems this morning. Many have posted screenshots of similar hacks today. But others have posted images of similar hacks throughout this week and going back to at least September.
Wahhh my Apple ID was hacked! ? pic.twitter.com/18x1LCaEb0
— Alice Harvey (@aliceharv) September 14, 2016
Waking up to a hacked Apple ID account: not cool
— Quarry Quayco (@hilarion) October 13, 2016
Android user for years with no issue. @apple iPhone user 10 days and account hacked.#worrying pic.twitter.com/5DkaO6a24u
— John Munn (@john_munn) October 11, 2016
One London-based Twitter user who posted about the hack on October 17 told Mashable that the messages stopped after he changed his password information and enabled two-step verification. He did not contact Apple about the hack.
Apple Support has responded to some users on Twitter:
@Chaunster Let’s get you taken care of. Check this out: https://t.co/ufbG3Gx5bq Let us know how that works for you.
— Apple Support (@AppleSupport) October 18, 2016
And some sites have offered guidance about how to fix this hack as far back as August.
An Apple spokesman said he would look into these reports, and offered Apple’s resources for what to do if your Apple ID has been compromised.
Based on a basic web translation, the messages seem to contain spam about Macau casinos.
