US prosecutors have charged two people with stealing email addresses and other data of about 120,000 users of Apple Inc's iPad after finding a security weakness in AT&T Inc servers. Prosecutors said the criminal charges arise from a "brute force" hacking over several days last June that affected iPad users who accessed the Internet through AT&T's 3G network.
Among the possible victims were celebrities, businesses executives and government officials like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer, movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and perhaps then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, prosecutors said.
Daniel Spitler and Andrew Auernheimer, the defendants, were each charged with one count of fraud and one count of conspiracy to access a computer without authorisation. Prosecutors said both defendants were associated with Goatse Security, a group of "self-professed Internet 'trolls'" who try to disrupt online content and services, and which last June revealed the hacking. They said Auernheimer has bragged in published interviews about his trolling activities.
Lawyers for the defendants could not immediately be located. Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller and AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel declined to comment. Responding to an email request for comment to Goatse, Sam Hocevar, a member of Goatse's "team" according to the group's website, confirmed the charges relate to the June hacking. He said he did not have additional information.