A 22-year-old hacker appeared in court in London a few days ago , allegedly involved in a blackmail attempt against Apple that took place in 2017. The defendant and his associates threatened Apple that they would hack accounts iCloud and perform factory resets on 250 million iPhones and iPads if the company did not agree to pay them a large sum of money.
The defendant, named Kerem Albayrak, was sentenced to a two-year prison sentence suspended (controlled via electronic devices).
The defendant was the representative of the hacking group
According to the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), Albaryak was the spokesperson for a Turkish hacking group called the Turkish Crime Family.
He was the one who had the conversations with the victims. In this particular case, he was the one who contacted Apple to blackmail them and demand a ransom. He also contacted journalists to inform them of the possible Apple hack.
According to the NCA, Albaryak contacted Apple on March 12, 2017. Specifically, he sent an email to the company's security team and said that he had access to iCloud accounts and that he planned to sell them online. He then asked Apple for $75,000 in cryptocurrency or one thousand iTunes gift cards worth $100 each in order to delete the database in his possession.
To make it more convincing, a week after sending the email, he posted a video on YouTube (which now doesn't exist) showing access to random iCloud accounts.
On March 21, he reappeared with a slightly different set of demands. He demanded $100,000 from Apple. If the company didn't give him the money, he would hack into 250 million iCloud accounts, erase iCloud passwords, and factory reset various Apple devices.
Apple immediately notified the authorities. The company refused to give in to the blackmail and give the money. The hacker warned that he would carry out his threats and inform journalists, but he did not have time, as British police arrested him on March 28, 2017. According to the NCA, no evidence to prove that he had access to Apple's iCloud infrastructure.
At the time, Apple had said that Albaryak only had access to iCloud accounts for which users had reused passwords.
Albaryak pleaded guilty earlier this month (December 2019) and was sentenced three days ago.
At present, there is no evidence of arrests of other members of the Turkish Crime Family hacking group.
