Apple excuses after theft of Apple stolen identification information and phishing attack in China

Apple has formally apologized to Chinese users for hacking some Chinese accounts into a series of phishing scams that hit the country last week. Successful phishing attacks have used stolen Apple IDs to access customer funds, leading to "a small number of … user accounts" accessed via these scams (via The Wall Street Journal).

In a statement shared today in China, Apple said: "We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers by these phishing scams."

When news of the incident appeared last week, Chinese mobile payment companies Alipay and WeChat announced that hackers were able to withdraw an unknown amount of money from accounts using stolen Apple IDs . Some users would have lost up to 2,000 yuan ($ 288) as a result of the violation.

According to Apple's new statement, these victims would not have activated two-factor authentication, which would facilitate hackers' access to their accounts. Apple has not confirmed how many users have been affected in China, how much money has been stolen in total, nor how hackers were able to access the Apple IDs in question. The company encouraged all users to activate two-factor authentication on their accounts to ensure that additional security protections are in place.

China remains important for Apple 's overseas expansion plans, but the company has faced many slowdowns in this regard over the years. In 2018, Apple transferred Chinese iCloud data to China Telecom, a public company, which raised concerns about user privacy. faces a problem with an overabundance of illegal gambling applications on the Chinese iOS App Store; and is now trying to suppress iMessage spam in the country.

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