“Apple Inc.’s iCloud service for users in mainland China has been hit by an attack that could allow perpetrators to intercept and see usernames, passwords and other personal data, activists and security analysts said,” The Wall street Journal reports.
“Though the perpetrator’s identity was unclear, the attack came as tensions between the U.S. and Chinese governments have simmered over accusations of cyberespionage and hacking attacks. The online censorship watchdog GreatFire.org claimed Chinese authorities were behind the attack, though other experts said the source couldn’t be determined,” WSJ reports. “Concerns about the iCloud service in China began to emerge over the weekend when tech-savvy Chinese Internet users—seeing warning messages on their Internet browsers—raised suspicions in online discussion groups that the iCloud server’s communications with users in China had been compromised.”
“Taiwan-based Chinese Internet activist Zhou Shuguang tested the service and found that communication channels between iCloud users and the iCloud server had been hijacked by an attacker in what is known as a “man-in-the-middle” tactic, Mr. Zhou said. Separately, Erik Hjelmvik, an analyst with Netresec AB, a network-security-software vendor in Sweden, said Tuesday he reviewed data posted online by Chinese Internet users and arrived at a similar conclusion,” WSJ reports. “Similar attacks have been reported in recent months affecting Chinese-based users accessing Google Inc. through a particular network, as well as Microsoft Corp. ’s Hotmail services.”
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