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Myung Jung Kim/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Apple

Apple hit by cyber attack, says no data was stolen

“There is no evidence that any data left Apple,” Apple said as it confirmed an attack similar to one carried out on Facebook recently.

APPLE ON TUESDAY said it suffered a cyber attack similar to the one recently carried out against Facebook, but that it repelled the invaders before its data was plundered.

The maker of iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macintosh computers said it is working with law enforcement officials to hunt down the hackers, who appeared tied to a series of recent cyber attacks on US technology firms.

“The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers,” Apple said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

The malicious software, or malware, took advantage of a vulnerability in a Java program used as a “plug-in” for Web-browsing programs.

A “small number” of computer systems at Apple were infected but they were isolated from the main network, according the Silicon Valley-based company.

“There is no evidence that any data left Apple,” Apple said.

Apple released a Macintosh computer operating system update that disables Java software that hasn’t been used for 35 days or longer, as well as a tool for finding and removing the malware.

Facebook attack

Word of hackers hitting Apple came just days after leading social network Facebook said it was “targeted in a sophisticated attack” last month, but that it found no evidence any user data was compromised.

Facebook said Friday that the malware came from an infected website of a mobile developer. “We remediated all infected machines, informed law enforcement, and began a significant investigation that continues to this day,” it said.

It was unclear whether it was the same website blamed for the attack on Apple.

Using a previously unseen tactic, the attackers took advantage of a flaw in Java software made by Oracle, which was alerted to the situation and released a patch on February 1, according to Facebook.

The hackers appeared to be targeting developers and technology firms based on the website they chose to booby-trap with malicious code.

“Facebook was not alone in this attack,” the Northern California-based company said.

“It is clear that others were attacked and infiltrated recently as well.”

Early this month Twitter said it was hammered by a cyber attack similar to those that recently hit major Western news outlets, and that the passwords of about 250,000 users were stolen.

- © AFP, 2013

Read: Facebook network hit by ‘sophisticated’ cyber attack

More: Twitter attacked by ‘sophisticated’ hackers

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