Pop-Up Ransom Notes Hit Some iPhone and iPad Owners - Digits - WSJ

Not a great PR week for Apple's cloud services; also see The Flaws of Apple’s iMessage (NYT)

"Judging from the complaints, it seems that the mystery perpetrator (or perpetrators) is logging into some users’ iCloud accounts from the Web, then engaging the “Find My iPhone” feature to lock devices remotely. The feature allows you to display a message, hence the ransom notes. People who have a passcode lock engaged can unlock their devices and turn off “Find My iPhone,” but those who don’t have a passcode are locked out of their systems. (This article from the Sydney Morning Herald has a good recap of what’s going on.)

Apple said there’s been no breach of its iCloud service—meaning hackers haven’t obtained usernames and passwords from Apple’s systems. It is possible that people’s iPhones, iPads and Macs could be compromised if their usernames and passwords were obtained through phishing scams, or if they use the same log-in credentials at another online service that was breached."

Pop-Up Ransom Notes Hit Some iPhone and iPad Owners - Digits - WSJ