Apple Developer Center Outage Sparks New Round of Phishing Attacks

MacRumors · Jul 25, 2013

As noted by ZDNet, scammers have launched a new round of phishing emails on the heels of an outage of Apple's Developer Center late last week. The email offers the recipient access back into their accounts if they click on a link posing as an official Apple page. However, the page is actually located on another site and proceeds to take the account credentials of the user if they log in on the page.

Phishing attacks targeting Apple customers are regular occurrences given the size of the company's user base. But with many casual users perhaps only vaguely aware of Apple having had a recent problem with some of its online services, they may now be more likely to fall victim to such an attack.

Earlier this week, independent security researcher Ibrahim Balic speculated that he may be responsible for the breach that caused the extended outage of Apple's Developer Center, which for the most part remains offline one week after it was taken down by Apple. Yesterday, Apple outlined a plan for bringing its Developer Center back online, and also created a status page to display the availability of its services.

Article Link: Apple Developer Center Outage Sparks New Round of Phishing Attacks

hellomoto4 · Jul 25, 2013

Look at that grammar! Although it may look quite real, it reads like an 8 year old has written it.

rodpascoe · Jul 25, 2013

hellomoto4 said:
Look at that grammar! Although it may look quite real, it reads like an 8 year old has written it.

I was going to post the same thing and then saw your post hellomoto4.

It reads terribly and you have to wonder at the literacy of the people who fall foul of these phishing attacks really.

Rogifan · Jul 25, 2013

Um, that doesn't look legit at all. Can't believe someone would mistake that for an official Apple email.

Jab00 · Jul 25, 2013

lol fraudsters....

phr0ze · Jul 25, 2013

Can't imagine how many people would fall for it if it was perfectly written and the landing page professionally done. But in all that looks like crap.

ArmCortexA8 · Jul 25, 2013

If anyone actually falls for this, they should not be a Developer. The grammar in this email is shocking. Apple don't address with "Dear Apple Customer" / Apple Don't use "to get back into your account" / Apple never use "update now" links, as Apple always shows the full link in emails / "Confirmed" should not be capitalised / Apple don't use the term "right away" / Apple don't use the term "fraudsters" (ironically the fraudsters are the one's sending these out) / And "yours sincerely, apple" - no capital A an no carriage return after "sincerely".

Oh and the the way, where's the Apple Logo?

Scyanide · Jul 25, 2013

Looks like Google Translate's work...

PracticalMac · Jul 25, 2013

hellomoto4 said:
Look at that grammar! Although it may look quite real, it reads like an 8 year old has written it.

...or someone for whom English is not a native language.

whooleytoo · Jul 25, 2013

I've heard a theory (which might be plausible) that the spelling or grammar errors are deliberate, in order to weed out the careful/sceptical users right at the start.

Anyone who doesn't notice the spelling/grammar/layout errors right at the start is more likely to give our their passwords/credit card details later.

Maybe that's giving them too much credit.

Topher227 · Jul 25, 2013

Looks legit to me. Shut up and take my credit card/bank info/SSN/money!

macgeek01 · Jul 25, 2013

"Yours sincerely, apple"

LOL

szw-mapple fan · Jul 25, 2013

hellomoto4 said:
Look at that grammar! Although it may look quite real, it reads like an 8 year old has written it.

At least make it look genuine if you're scamming somebody... Well, this might work on non-English speaking developers??

Madmic23 · Jul 25, 2013

It always amazes me how scammers can be so smart when it comes to creating fake websites, collecting data, and getting in through back doors, but are so incredibly stupid at putting together a simple sentence.

charlituna · Jul 25, 2013

hellomoto4 said:
Look at that grammar! Although it may look quite real, it reads like an 8 year old has written it.

Yep. Then there is the target audience. Developers are generally too smart to fall for this kind of game.

There are folks that wonder if this researcher isn't a tad full of it and if at least some of the phish is just part of his 'attack' scheme. Couldn't brute in so let's try some social tricking. And the whole 'just research' is to build a defense.

firedept · Jul 25, 2013

Why don't I just hand you all my passwords! Come on, at least make it look official. My teenage son tutors 6-7 year old kids and they could probably do better with the grammar. Scumbags (and I use the term very lightly) will take advantage of anything, won't they.

Zyphras · Jul 25, 2013

Yeah, because developers aren't savvy to this at all.

Grandpa, maybe. Not developers.

timborama · Jul 25, 2013

ArmCortexA8 said:
If anyone actually falls for this, they should not be a Developer.

Hmmm, have you seen any of the apps on the store?!?

bacaramac · Jul 25, 2013

If a dev falls for this, they deserve to get scammed. I have also heard the poor grammer, etc is to weed out people who wouldn't fall for scam. If you continue to page and input your credentials, you will probably continue giving info like credit card, ssn, etc.

9947273 · Jul 25, 2013

Wow, I could sneeze a better email. The amount of gramatical errors is incredible

Northgrove · Jul 25, 2013

Copyright g2013 apple.

Ubuntu · Jul 25, 2013

rodpascoe said:
I was going to post the same thing and then saw your post hellomoto4.

It reads terribly and you have to wonder at the literacy of the people who fall foul of these phishing attacks really.

... and the naivety of those who assume everyone else speaks English as a first language.

jonAppleSeed · Jul 25, 2013

09sroyal said:
Wow, I could sneeze a better email. The amount of gramatical errors is incredible

Could you do it in Russian?
Hypothetical, not assuming the scammer is Russian

Yptcn · Jul 25, 2013

Ubuntu said:
... and the naivety of those who assume everyone else speaks English as a first language.

FYI , these emails come in other languages ! I'm french and got it a few times in french

…and the grammar is bad also !

stepmuel · Jul 25, 2013

Madmic23 said:
It always amazes me how scammers can be so smart when it comes to creating fake websites, collecting data, and getting in through back doors, but are so incredibly stupid at putting together a simple sentence.

The ones that can put together simple sentences just never get caught

Apple Developer Center Outage Sparks New Round of Phishing Attacks

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