Some iPhone app developers were quick to discover an unexpected change in their accounts that suggested Russian-based hackers may have breached Apple’s developers portal. However, Apple issued a statement saying that the error was caused by an internal bug that was soon fixed.
Many developers took to Twitter to express their concern when they discovered that their addresses were set to the same Russian-based address, complete with a spelling error that suggested this might be the work of a hacker.
All my teams on Developer Member Center at @apple are registered in Russia. Nice. pic.twitter.com/kyYyRyLTR7
— Dal Rupnik (@TheLegoless) September 6, 2017
The developer site was down for a few hours before Apple restored it. Initially, Apple did not explain why the site was taken down. But it then provided a statement to MacRumors and the affected developers explaining the situation.
“Due to a bug in our account management application, your address information was temporarily displayed incorrectly in your account details on the Apple Developer website,” Apple said “The same incorrect address was displayed to all affected developers. The underlying code-level bug was quickly resolved, and your address information now shows correctly. There was no security breach and at no time were the Apple Developer website, applications, or services compromised; nor were any of your Apple Developer membership details accessed by, shared with, or displayed to anyone.”
However, it’s unclear why the address changed to a Russian-based location.
But Apple would probably tell you if hackers breached its security. Back in 2013, the Developer Center was hacked, and Apple had to take it offline for several days to secure it. Apple said at the time that sensitive information was encrypted, but names, mailing addresses and email addresses may have been leaked.
