Apple Freezes Over-The-Phone iCloud Password Resets After Hack

After Wired reporter Mat Honan’s iCloud account was hacked via Apple phone support, Apple has reportedly decided to freeze over-the-phone password resets for the next 24-hours. This information comes from an anonymous source at Wired, who apparently works for Apple’s phone support team. The source has made this statement to Wired:

Right now, our system does not allow us to reset passwords, I don’t know why.

Apple has reportedly froze these resets for the next 24-hours to figure out what needs to be done about the security flaw in iCloud over-the-phone password resets. Wired was apparently trying to replicate the hacking when over-the-phone password resets were halted. If iCloud/Apple ID users need to reset their iCloud password over the next 24-hours, they can do so online by visiting Apple’s password reset portal (iForgot).

If you’re unaware, hackers got into Honan’s Amazon account and used his billing info to recover his iCloud account over-the-phone. The hackers wiped Honan’s iPad, iPhone and MacBook and then recovered his Gmail account, which allowed them to recover Honan’s Twitter account as well as Gizmodo’s (where Mat previously worked) Twitter account. If you would like to view more on this epic hack, take a look the post we published yesterday.

What do you think should be done to Apple’s over-the-phone password reset service? Let us know by dropping a comment below this post.

Source: Wired
Image Credit: LJR.MIKE

Andrew is a geek, Apple enthusiast, blogger and coffee lover from Chicago.