Apple has denied accusations that it provided the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) a set of unique device IDs (UDIDs), following claims by hacker group AntiSec of nabbing data from an FBI agent’s computer.

“The FBI has not requested this information from Apple, nor have we provided it to the FBI or any organization,” said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris.

Earlier this week, AntiSec claimed to have acquired 12 million Apple UDIDs, which rang bells among privacy groups and tech bloggers and users who confirmed their names were on the list.

UDIDs help app developers track users across their applications; however, privacy advocates oppose this kind of approach since it directly identifies people’s names through IDs connected with data usage.

Several app developers have UDID databases, and organizations can obtain this information without Apple’s permission or knowledge.

On Tuesday, the FBI said that no evidence pointed at a compromised FBI laptop.

Apple on Wednesday supported earlier reports on new technologies found in its mobile operating system, iOS, which will replace UDIDs, and said it would ban old identifiers.

Source: WSJ

Image: yto via Flickr (CC)

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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