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Apple Support Allowed Hacker Access to Reporter's iCloud Account

macrumors.com

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Re: Apple Support Allowed Hacker Access to Reporter's iCloud Account

#7

I hope he sues Apple for this and wins, behavior like this shouldn't be allowed without consequences.

From iCloud's ToS, it looks like it'd depend on whether a court finds this to be either "failure to use reasonable skill and due care" or "gross negligence":

APPLE SHALL USE REASONABLE SKILL AND DUE CARE IN PROVIDING THE SERVICE. THE FOLLOWING LIMITATIONS DO NOT APPLY IN RESPECT OF LOSS RESULTING FROM (A) APPLE'S FAILURE TO USE REASONABLE SKILL AND DUE CARE; (B) APPLE'S GROSS NEGLIGENCE, WILFUL MISCONDUCT OR FRAUD; OR (C) DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY. [Blanket disclaimer of liability in all other cases follows.]

I'd be curious if there is any good precedent on product liability for cloud services.

Re: Apple Support Allowed Hacker Access to Reporter's iCloud Account

#8

I hope he sues Apple for this and wins, behavior like this shouldn't be allowed without consequences.

I don't think I would label this horrible behavior on the part of Apple. When you provide customer service for something like iCloud things like these are bound to happen. This is a case of social engineering not some tech rep downloading plaintext passwords to a laptop and losing it. With a really targeted attack they are bound to be successful with some rep. Its a matter of when not if. Having said that they will improve their support with this. And the guy could end up suing Apple as well.

Re: Apple Support Allowed Hacker Access to Reporter's iCloud Account

#9

I hope he sues Apple for this and wins, behavior like this shouldn't be allowed without consequences.

From iCloud's ToS, it looks like it'd depend on whether a court finds this to be either "failure to use reasonable skill and due care" or "gross negligence": APPLE SHALL USE REASONABLE SKILL AND DUE CARE IN PROVIDING THE SERVICE. THE FOLLOWING LIMITATIONS DO NOT APPLY IN RESPECT OF LOSS RESULTING FROM (A) APPLE'S FAILURE TO USE REASONABLE SKILL AND DUE CARE; (B) APPLE'S GROSS NEGLIGENCE, WILFUL MISCONDUCT OR FRAUD; O…

Just because a clause is in a contract, doesn't mean it has any effect.

A lot of terms are flat out bluffing to scare off folk like you.

This is why it is always a good investment to ask your lawyer.

Re: Apple Support Allowed Hacker Access to Reporter's iCloud Account

#10
post #3

The remote wipe part is extremely scary. How do you disable this on your mac?

System Preferences - iCloud - Find My Mac (remove the checkmark)

Is there any way to remove the wiping bit without removing the whole finding functionality? That bit is extremely useful, and if a hacker managed to get into my iCloud I wouldn't be that worried about them being able to locate it. But being able to wipe everything as well is a different matter.
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