Apple And Meta Fell For A Fake 'Emergency Data Request' Scam
Apple and Meta reportedly handed over user data to hackers in 2021 after falling for an elaborate 'Emergency Data Request' scam. Cyber-crime and online scams have been on the rise over the years and reached a crescendo during the pandemic. According to the FBI, 2021 was an especially bad year for digital safety, with victims losing nearly $7 billion to online attacks, scams, and hacks.
Law enforcement officials routinely request user data from major tech companies, such as Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, but most of these companies only hand over data when presented with a warrant or subpoena. However, in case of emergency requests, most of them comply in good faith, especially if they believe that it involves a threat to a person's life or public safety.
Related: The Group That Hacked NVIDIA Also Stole Galaxy Source Code From Samsung
According to Bloomberg, Facebook's parent company Meta and fellow American tech giant Apple handed over user data to hackers pretending to be law enforcement officials. The report, which cites three people familiar with the matter, claims that the companies provided addresses, phone numbers, and IP addresses of their users after being served with an emergency data request that later turned out to be forged. While the malicious actors are yet to be identified, investigators believe that they're likely to be teenagers based in the U.S. or U.K. In fact, one of the people involved in the scam is suspected to be the mastermind behind the cybercrime group 'Lapsus$' which was recently in the news for hacking Microsoft, Samsung, and Nvidia.
According to the report, the forged documents are believed to be the creations of a cyber-crime syndicate known as 'Recursion Team.' While that group is no
Read more on screenrant.com
