Apple Confirms Developer Site Hacked

According to the statement released by Apple, "Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed, however, [Apple has] not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers' names, mailing addresses and/or email addresses have been accessed."

"I was expecting Friday to do some work on some new pre release software for iOS and for Mac, and I wasn't able to," said Aaron Freimark, CTO of New York City-based Apple reseller and solution provider, Tekserve. "There are a lot of people in the world who are working on iOS 7 and Mac OS X 10.9 right now who aren't able to."

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Freimark said the information stored on the developers website is incredibly valuable to each individual developer's identity. However, he believes the most valuable information has been protected.

"In my case, my name, address and email address are all out there anyway. I know some people are more sensitive about that, but I'm not really worried," Freimark said. "Apple is taking this seriously. Instead of Apple rushing back with something half baked, they are taking their time and releasing it the right way."

Another Apple partner, however, found the news more disconcerting.

"You never know if it's one name, 100 names or 1000 names. Who knows what these people do. The impact could be nothing or it could be significant depending on what happens with the information," said Rick Jordan, director of Sales and Strategic Alliances at Tenet Computer Group, a Toronto-based solution provider and Apple partner.

Jordan said Tenet Computer Group has partnerships with multiple vendors. He said he is perplexed by the positive feedback Apple receives when it experiences trouble while other vendors become a public punching bag.

"I find it somewhat comical," Jordan said, "I can only imagine the uproar it would have been if it were Microsoft, BlackBerry or Android. I find with Apple, this kind of thing just gets tucked away."

Though Apple successfully protected its developers' sensitive information despite the security breach, the company's statement promised a total overhaul of its developer system, update of server software, rebuilding of its entire database and a swift return.

The company has also extended program memberships for those set to expire during the period the site is down.

Apple did not respond to a CRN request for comment by press time.

PUBLISHED JULY 22, 2013