FBI denies AntiSec's Apple UDID database claims

Yesterday's claim by AntiSec, part of the hactivist collective Anonymous, that it had obtained 12 million UDIDs (Unique Device IDs) for Apple iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices while hacking an FBI agent's laptop, has been denied by the FBI. The group had released a million UDIDs, push notification tokens, device names and types as evidence that they had the information.

But the law enforcement agency tweeted: "We never had info in question" and said that the story was "TOTALLY FALSE". In a further statement, the agency said:

The FBI is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI laptop was compromised and private data regarding Apple UDIDs was exposed. At this time, there is no evidence indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the FBI either sought or obtained this data.

The, now more active, @AnonymousIRC twitter account used by AntiSec responded to the FBI's statement: "So because you don't know of any data breach it never happened?"

In the original Pastebin announcement, AntiSec said they would give no interviews until Adrian Chen, a journalist at Gawker, appeared on the front page of Gawker in a ballet tutu with a shoe on his head. Chen and Gawker have, somewhat surprisingly, now complied with the demands of AntiSec, placing the picture on the site's front page. Chen is, at the time of writing, still awaiting contact from AntiSec or Anonymous.

(djwm)