Some Users Locked Out of Their Apple IDs, Forced to Reset Passwords

[Brenster]

This happened to me too. Apple also asked to verify my credit card number because the phone number wasn’t good enough? It was weird. I have 2 factor set up so I doubt someone tried to hack my account. Really weird.

Same here. Not on iOS beta. Was locked out last night whilst trying to purchase a film from iTunes on my iPhone X. Full password reset then credit card verification. Only then allowed to log back in to iCloud & other Apple services across iPad and Mac.

Almost felt judged for trying to buy Mamma Mia! Here We Go again...

 

[chukwithak]

I wonder if this is specific to people on a certain device. I.e. it occurred to all new iPhone XS Max users or something along those lines. I’m on iPhone XS (verizon) and 2018 IPP.

 

[Gegli]

Yes, this has destroyed my information!
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Apple appears to have locked a select group of users out of their Apple ID accounts over the past 20 hours or so, with no clear indication yet as to why the incident has occurred. According to reports on Reddit and Twitter, users are being kicked out of their Apple IDs for security reasons, and forced to reset their password to gain access to their account.

Users report this happening without warning on iPhone, Apple TV, and other Apple devices, while they were using Apple Music, watching TV, etc. The original poster on Reddit confirmed that they have two factor authentication enabled and a unique iCloud password for their Apple ID not used anywhere else, and many users report similar settings.

On Twitter, @AppleSupport is guiding users to the Support Communities web page that explains what to do if your Apple ID is locked and disabled. In nearly all instances across social media, users are reporting that they must reset their Apple ID password to be able to get back into their accounts.

With no official word from Apple and no clear reason behind these forced password resets, it's unclear why some users were affected and what caused Apple to initiate the wave of resets in the first place. We've reached out to Apple for a comment, and will update this article if we hear back.

Article Link: Some Users Locked Out of Their Apple IDs, Forced to Reset Passwords

Yes, this has destroyed my information!

 

[norge]

It also happens to me in Germany, hat to choose a new password and renter the ccv of the credit card. But I don’t had like others an app tempt of an user that tried to use my account with 2fa activated.

 

[AshleyHredone]

This happened to me earlier and I rang Apple support and was fed just a load of tick-box rhetoric.

I was then passed to a 'senior advisor' who fed me the same meaningless drivel.

Errors happen Apple but fobbing off customers with bull is just utter rubbish.

If you are looking then it was case: 100672287111.

I have since had to change my other Apple ID password twice.

Just RUBBISH!

 

[henryhbk]

Happened to me, annoyingly as I was bringing my new watch online, which I thought was somehow connected. Just bad timing I guess. And fun when you say "no don't log out my other devices" and then it does it anyway...

 

[stevie grant]

This has happened to me three times in the past two months.

Twice on consecutive days. I have two factor authentication set up.

Apple has no explanation, and it's a huge PITA.

 

[mi7chy]

One of the first things I read this morning was about some of Google's traffic being routed through China because of a bad BGP change. A few minutes later, my daughter happens to grab her iPad and says her iCloud account was locked.

The possible relation is Apple has services hosted on Google Cloud. Internet traffic is routed via BGP protocol which is based on a trust system. Any ISP can can announce ownership of someone else's IP prefix. Usually a less specific IP prefix is announced for malicious hijacking of interested traffic but in this case a Nigerian entity announced the same /19 prefix so it's partial hijacking hence why Google thinks it's accidental.

 

[mattaaron]

Happened here too, sucks because I had to change my password from p@ssword to p@ssw0rd, Apple keeps making it harder to make easy passwords, this is unacceptable.

 

[iConnected]

Interestingly I got an email this morning telling me I was locked out and needed to reset my password. It was obvious phishing. Coincidental?

Sounds more like opportunistic to me - cleverer / more clued up than average phishers at work.

 

[where is it]

And I just reset my password about 2 weeks ago. Had to do it again this morning.

I’m running out of creative ways to spell my favorite color.

Yellow?

 

[DoctorTech]

It hasn't hit me so far this time but I have had to enter my password several times on my iPhone over the past couple of months. No rhyme or reason, just a popup message requiring me to enter my password. So far I have not had to reset my password but I did it anyway just to make sure I was safe. It happened again even after I had reset my password.

 

[jwtcat]

And I just reset my password about 2 weeks ago. Had to do it again this morning.

I’m running out of creative ways to spell my favorite color.

Take every letter forward 3 letters of the alphabet. B -> E. L - > O. U -> Y. E -> H. New password could be: TopColour1/5is'EOYH'

I love thinking of passwords! I had to earlier too.

 

[slippery-pete]

Same here. Makes no sense.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Yep. Happened to me.

Happened to me yesterday. Posted it in Twitter also. Had to change my password and login again on everything in the house. Sometimes I hate Apple.

Signed me out of everywhere recently but I didn't have to reset my password.

Yep hit me too!

And I just reset my password about 2 weeks ago. Had to do it again this morning.

I’m running out of creative ways to spell my favorite color.

wonder if you had any suspicious apps installed? maybe there was a fishing attempt by an app and anyone that installed that app had to get their password reset

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

The massive iCloud trust information dB must have been corrupted beyond repair for the iCloud backend to demand wholesale password resets.

The whole point of two-factor is that trust is reinforced with a soft, second component -- a random string received on a trusted device. But if the first factor ("what you know") is corrupted, then the second factor ("what you have") cannot be relied upon.

Luckily I was not affected, and neither was my wife.

But this performance is all but unacceptable if left unexplained by the Cook boyz.
Maybe they can blame it on iNTEL/s

 

[iConnected]

And I just reset my password about 2 weeks ago. Had to do it again this morning.

I’m running out of creative ways to spell my favorite color.

Pretty sure that any concerted hacking efforts based on, for example, leaked or stolen email addresses (which you may also be using for your Apple ID) will include ALL of the creative ways to spell colors - or any other obvious choice, as I suspect you were being sarcastic and didn't actually mean color - that you or I could ever possibly imagine.

FAR better, imo, to use a super-long and random (as far as it is technically possible to do so) password created by a trusted password manager app. To which end, there are plenty of choices out there.

 

[macduke]

This happened to my wife this morning. She was extremely irritated about it because her iMessages were all jacked up and it won't let her send or receive from her phone number, so now she has a lot of duplicate conversations with people, and other people are having her messages go into their unknown senders tab and not seeing them at all. I'll have to let her know this seems to be a larger problem so that might make her feel slightly better that it's not something just with her account.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

I was spared the inconvenience..

 

[supermars]

It happened to my wife yesterday evening and to me today.
What’s going on Apple ???

 

[justperry]

Happened here too, sucks because I had to change my password from p@ssword to p@ssw0rd, Apple keeps making it harder to make easy passwords, this is unacceptable.

Believe me, there are many more ways to spell "password"...

mot de passe..Mot de passe...mOt de passe
contraseña...contraseñA...ContraSeña
Passwort...PasswoRt...PassWort
wachtwoord...WachtwoorD...WAChtWOOrd
密碼.....
kata sandi.....
parola d'ordine....
पारण शब्द....
пароль....
....
....

 

[Sodium Chloride]

If you were locked out from your Apple ID, does it mean that you can’t buy any app, music or movies?

 

[Michael Scrip]

I'm sure it's unrelated... but I had to re-login into the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app today...

 

[asiga]

It makes sense to think why this happened to us: We are here because we chose the Mac, quite a few years ago, as the computer that worked "out of the box", and it didn't require you to enter any "online account", nor any private information (you could even give a nickname instead of a first name and last name if you wished), nor nothing. It just worked.

Now, Apple changed their views, and they push you into online services that hold private data. Data from your private life is now stored at Apple servers. Yes, they "promise" to use it in an "ethical" way, but they have data from our private life anyway. And of course, this needs security. And security can be breached.

Then you look back to the times when you got a Mac and you didn't need any iCloud account for a "complete experience", and the obvious question arises: why am I still here?

 

[Pcar17]

Interestingly I got an email this morning telling me I was locked out and needed to reset my password. It was obvious phishing. Coincidental?

Hmmmm....I would rely on the pop-ups to your device(s) as to whether you are locked out and need to reset your PW. Just take it slowly. I was locked out of many devices this morning and it took me an hour or so to get things back to normal. The only email that I got from Apple was one tell me that my password was reset AFTER i reset it. I never got one ahead of time like you did.

My 2c. Good luck.