Thousands of Apple ID Passwords Leaked by Teen Phone Monitoring App Server

[DBDukes]

If I were a teen I would never allow my parents to use this and spy on me. Ridiculous.

If you were my teen, you would never dictate to me what of yours -- correction, mine that I let you use -- I had access to. If I'm paying for it, I control it, how it's used, and who has access to it.

Now, if you were my teen, and you bought your own phone and paid your own phone bill, then yes, taking that adult action, you get adult privacy. Apart from that, no. The teen has never run my house. And that's the problem with so many households today; competent parents aren't in charge.

 

[charlituna]

What kind of parents spies on their children text messages? That’s just wrong on so many levels ... boundaries people. if you don’t trust them enough to use their own phone privately. Maybe look yourself in the mirror and question what you did wrong rasing them.

i would hope if one was using something like this they were upfront with their kids about it. because this kind of monitoring is as much about what someone is sending to the child as what the child is sending. so it's not necessarily a bad thing, if you are open about it.

although that said I wish that Apple had better built in restrictions on ios. on the computer i can manage my nieces account and restrict who she can email, message and FaceTime. she's 10 so she doesn't need anyone but her family and her friends. if she wants someone added she just asks me (I do it cause her parents are self declared tech idiots who say they should probably be managed also). a quick message to my brother to confirm that yes so and so is the new girl in her dance class and i can add her info to my nieces account. but that's only with a computer. if you don't have a mac then you can't set that sort of thing up

 

[44267547]

I don't think one person's privacy is more or less important than anyone else's, but certainly there's much less sensitive information on a child's phone than there is on the average adult's.

While that likely is true what you said, it’s far more alarming when a parent finds out _any_ children’s information is exposed because of the vulnerability at such a young age. As someone who works in law-enforcement as myself, you would be surprised with what very little information a perpetrator can use to manipulate and exploit children. You have to remember, children are the largest victims, because of the age and they don’t have any control in situations similar to this.

 

[charlituna]

Pretty black and white to be. They were tracking kids information and keeping the tracked information in a publicly accessible database. The entire server was open to anyone, no login required and it contained names, passwords, email and all the data that was being sent to parents.

you're mixing up two issues. the comment you replied to was about parents using the product against their kids. your reply was about the security concern.

 

[belvdr]

I think he was pointing out the incorrect usage of the word "mold". The original person should have used the correct word "mould". The number of people that make mistakes like this is sad, I think people need to read more, or at least check their spelling and grammar before publishing something to the internet. One of the most common misspellings that drives me nuts on forums is "loose" vs "lose".
[doublepost=1526916623][/doublepost]

See my above comment. I think he was picking on the OP's incorrect use of the word "mold" versus "mould".

Merriam Webster says "mould" is chiefly a British form of "mold", which can be a verb:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mold

1 : to knead or work (a material, such as dough or clay) into a desired consistency or shape
2 : to give shape to

• the wind molds the waves

3 : to form in a mold

• mold candles

4 : to determine or influence the quality or nature of

• mold public opinion

5 : to fit the contours of

• fitted skirts that mold the hips

6 : to ornament with molding or carving

• molded picture frames

The word "mold" was used correctly.

 

[goobot]

This app is a disgrace. As a parent you should be guiding your kids in the right direction. Being a fascist overlord to your children is not the right away about it. Unless of course you want your children to resent you and rebel because they don’t want to be treated like a dog.

While I realize that not all parents will use this product like this there are plenty of parents that do treat their children like property.

 

[Vjosullivan]

Wrong. You need pay close attention to how this is worded. Please note, almost all indemnification clauses which are vague and unilateral; such as this one, will never hold in court.

Following the quote from the website:

Indemnification. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold TeenSafe and the Related Parties harmless from any and all claims, demands, damages or other losses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, resulting from or arising out of your use of the Site, the Software and/or the Service or any breach by you of this ToU or any other policies that TeenSafe may issue for the Site, the Software and/or Service from time to time.

What has ensued was a breach of trust by the provider and had nothing to do with the user base.

P.S. This application is heinous.

That's a pretty standard get-out clause for all products, everywhere.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

This app is a disgrace. As a parent you should be guiding your kids in the right direction. Being a fascist overlord to your children is not the right away about it. Unless of course you want your children to resent you and rebel because they don’t want to be treated like a dog.

While I realize that not all parents will use this product like this there are plenty of parents that do treat their children like property.

Many people, including myself have said all kids are different and all situations are different. Especially when you have divorced parents, and one parent wants to be the best friend and the other parents acts like a parent. I never used an app like this, but I have looked at my kids stuff. I paid for the phone, I am paying for the service, and trust is earned.

If you were my teen, you would never dictate to me what of yours -- correction, mine that I let you use -- I had access to. If I'm paying for it, I control it, how it's used, and who has access to it.

Now, if you were my teen, and you bought your own phone and paid your own phone bill, then yes, taking that adult action, you get adult privacy. Apart from that, no. The teen has never run my house. And that's the problem with so many households today; competent parents aren't in charge.

Isn’t this the truth! Too many kids tell their parents what they are or are not doing. Sad.

 

[shplock]

What kind of parents spies on their children text messages? That’s just wrong on so many levels ... boundaries people. if you don’t trust them enough to use their own phone privately. Maybe look yourself in the mirror and question what you did wrong rasing them.

Well I have 2 kids. I have a son and a daughter. My son has complex special needs. He is able to use a phone/ipad and has no problems understanding the steps needed to use a device, however he is unable to understand that most people are nasty, selfish and evil. I have a daughter who is smart but sadly too nice and I worry she is easy to manipulate by evil people. Sexual predators are very cunning and able to manipulate even clever kids.
So it is a case of trysting my kids...I don't trust all of you!
[doublepost=1526930334][/doublepost]

What you mean take their phones away totally and let them grow up, as children have done for the past couple of million years as well rounded, normal human beings, without worrying, and staying up and night due to what someone may say about them, or needing to broadcast their every action to social media for their friends to see?

Yes. Let's take the dam phones away and let them grow up as well adjusted people before the curse of the mobile phone it thrust into their lives.

Technology is not the problem, the application of it is.
I have a daughter and she uses a mobile phone and a laptop and I have a son who uses a iPad. he has special needs and my daughter is a genius but too nice and idealistic. So my son is too trusting and could be abused early if I were not here to monitor him. My daughter is too nice and would fall victim to manipulative and cunning predators if i were not here to monitor her either.
In the meantime I let them use tech but I do my best to educate them both and teach them that technology can set you free and improve our lives if used right and responsibly
[doublepost=1526931259][/doublepost]

I'm a mother and obviously I'm concerned about where my kids are and what they are exposed to now with all kind of social media and private chat apps and stuff we did not have when I was a kid. That said, this is also a double edged sword, because while I want to make sure my daughter is safe and know where she is, she must also be able to have some privacy from me. She must be allowed to have a diary I don't snoop in, and be able to confide in friends and even teachers without me knowing every minute detail. Otherwise I fear she won't grow up to become an independant individual person when she grows up.

I saw this thing today when I looked at what else exist in this surveilance world and found https://www.flexispy.com/en/employee-monitoring.htm and to be frank that scared me. In scandinavia, the smart watches for kids that are available had similar poor security to what is described in this leak, and as a parent, I find it a lot more scary when police say they found kids smart watch login details in pedo circles than me not knowing within an inch where my kid is at all times.

My daughter and I are friends on the iPhone friend app. She can see where I am, and I can see where she is. I try to be balanced on this.

As a parent myself I understand what you are saying and agree up to a point. However I see with one of your points the opposite can be true. You said that with scandinavian smart watches, there were login credentials found in pedo circles. if that is true then that will happen if you do something and monitor your kids a little or if you do nothing. So you may as well do something in my view.
Pedophiles are very cunning, very clever and able to manipulate kids as well as their parents.
We had a celebrity in the UK called Jimmy Saville who fooled so many people for decades despite being one of the world's worst pedophiles.
He did so by being deceitful and able to manipulate people. he pulled the wool over many people's eyes as they all do.
So I would rather have a backup plan, but with the right caveats in pale such as making sure that the security is as good as can be(research research and more research into what product/service you use). Also giving the kids enough privacy and trust as a balance.
I will give you an example with my kids.
I have a son with special needs and a daughter who is very clever but too nice and too willing to see the good in people. So i trust my kids..I just do not trust anyone else.

I therefore have given my son an iPad and he knows how to use it but I place restrictions on it(through settings on iPad) and my daughter has an iPhone and in both cases I tell them that I have to have access to the devices and they can not block that.
I agree to not snoop on what they do, the exception being that I will do so If I think for one moment that something is wrong or should anything bad happen. In return for the degree of freedom I allow them they have to talk to me about certain things. Such as anyone talking to them online trying to get them to do certain things. Such a send pics of themselves naked or not.
or go into chat rooms etc etc..I also do teach them about sexual grooming and the clever ways pedophile use to gain trust etc.

I guess that I am lucky in as much as I used to be in the Army and know how to deal with certain types of bad actors, including pedophiles and know the methods they use.

Though it is hard isn't it, trying to strike that balance between giving our kids freedom and protecting them.

 

[convergent]

If I were a teen I would never allow my parents to use this and spy on me. Ridiculous.

There are a lot of people commenting in this thread that either have no clue what being a responsible parent is, or just kids pretending to be adults. First off, if you are a teen and depending on your parents to provide for you, then you don't have a say to "allow" your parents to do anything. If you want to be on that side of the equation, then you get a job, support yourself, and then you can do whatever you want. There are way too many parents in this world that stopped being parents and started trying to be their kids' friend. I've have 4 grown kids and have literally tried nearly everything along the way. Our oldest was very difficult and continues to have major issues even in adulthood.

In the end, what we did with the younger ones (grown now) was to just establish that all passwords were fair game, just like all locks are fair game. Its called, "trust but verify". Give me a reason not to trust you, and then I'll be doing more verify. There were many occasions when my wife or I asked one of our teens (who was acting suspicious) to unlock their phone so we could see what they were doing or who they were texting with. We didn't do it constantly, but when we felt it appropriate. This was understood with them as a condition of having a smartphone. They never did it, but had they decided they didn't want to unlock it, then that's fine... they'd not have a smartphone anymore.

In spite of popular opinion, teens are not adults and aren't always going to understand the risks of things, and they certainly aren't responsible for most of the risks they face. As the one responsible, I not only feel that I have a right, but also a responsibility, to know what my kids are up to. If you blindly trust everything your teen says, then you are being incredibly naive and irresponsible.

 

[shplock]

This needs to be weighed against the risks, such as mentioned in this article, that a monitoring or spy service is to be trusted as well. My concern, as a parent, is that a number of these spy services had incredibly bad security. In Scandinavia, the kids' smartwatch GPS tracker watches had cloud accounts that could be brute force hacked or even have the URL modified to reveal information about other kids of other parents. And when login details for these services surface when police bust pedo rings?

Also over time as a parent, we need to back off as they get older. I talked to a father who demanded his 25-year-old daughter call him when she left her student apartment and returned to it, every night. He was adamant that she "retain her innocence" and not bring "shame to the family". His son, however, is gone for entire weekends at a time and he has no clue where the son is.

Your son is your son until he takes a wife but your daughter is your daughter is your daughter for life.
[doublepost=1526931482][/doublepost]

I see "16 year old" and "boyfriend" in the same sentence and come to the same conclusion. Bad parenting.

Then what in your view is the right age to get a boyfriend/girlfriend? 35? 50? 90?
You are not a parent then. Were you celibate at 16? I bet not! Where you single then? I bet not.
Also having a boyfriend/girlfriend does not mean having sex. I had a girlfriend at 16 but we did not have sex.
[doublepost=1526931653][/doublepost]

Parent here. I'm all for monitoring and protecting them, but putting a spy app on their phone? You might as well tell them, "Hey kid, I've never trusted you and I never will. Do whatever you want, just make sure you don't use your phone to do it." If you need to spy on their phone, don't give them one.

Many parents trust their kids...it's the other people we don't trust!
You seem to think that the vast majority of society are to be trusted. I trust no-one except God and myself. None of you are either so I will not trust you and will see you all as evil until you prove otherwise.
That may seem a bit too much but then you have not seen what I have and not had to do what i have had to, and I hope to god you never do.
sadly, most people will always resort to their basic instincts of selfishness and evil when push comes to shove.

 

[gene731]

It’s not always that simple. I was just on a jury panel a couple of weeks ago of a murdered 16 year old. If her parents had access to the info that was exchanged between their daughter and her boyfriend/murderer then perhaps she would be alive. She showed various messages and things to her friends but when asked why the friends didn’t do anything they basically said they hadn’t gotten around to it. As one of them said, “I guess hindsight is 20/20.”

Yes, sometimes it is bad parenting but it’s too easy to just blame the parents — a well that never seems to run dry these days. Just consider that sometimes it is the kids — even with the parents’ best efforts.

It also, as your story shows, that people don’t realize teens aren’t always honest with their parents no matter how well the parents raised their kids. I have seen in the news where some dads lately have found their daughters WhatsApp messages to find out it is some middle aged man trying to meet an underage female for sex. Only the dad shows up and either beats the crap out of the guy or is smart enough to take the evidence to the police and the guy is arrested.
Though some kids end up getting around that by somehow getting another phone their parents don’t even know they have

 

[shplock]

I blame the guy who killed her. Neither she nor her parents deserved that. The entitlement that allowed him to do this heinous act is to blame.

True however as a parent we have to do our best to remove and block as many threats and dangers for our kids as we can.
I am a protector in nature, I am able to see threats others can not see or do not see out of purity. I am able to take measures to try to head off that threat. heading off a threat/danger is better than reacting to danger.
When I was in the Army we did not simply wait until we got bumped, we would take steps to do our best to head any dangers off. Should they happen you either stop it in it's tracks or you can reduce it's impact and this react better rathe than panic.
I do blame the guy and I agree with you that it is not the parents fault or her fault...though I will simply add that I myself try to protect my kids from dangers until they can do so themselves. Even then I will still protect, i can not just stop caring because they are grown up.
Sadly my son has special needs and will always be a target for abuse, even from professionals and officials meant to help. So I have to put systems in place to help him and protect him for when I am not here to help him.
The only other way is to simply sit back and hope that professionals and officials will help him and not abuse him. In the UK there has been case after case of people with special needs and issues getting hurt, abused and let down by those meant to help.
So I would not trust them over my ability to protect him. I protect, it is what I do both as a former professional in the Army and as a parent.

 

[Fixey]

That company is a noob, who in hell stores passwords as plain text.

 

[karazelle]

Your son is your son until he takes a wife but your daughter is your daughter is your daughter for life.

I'm 35 and a mother myself. Are you saying that my parents or my dad should still be my legal guardian? I'm confused now. Apparently my dad didn't get that memo.

 

[ActionableMango]

Incompetence and negligence.

Good luck getting any form of compensation or refund.

https://www.teensafe.com/helps/terms/

Those statements are used to intimidate people from trying a lawsuit, but depending on the circumstances they are not valid in court.

This company said the information was encrypted and protected, but it was kept in plain text and not even password protected. That seems like fraud to me, and fraud cannot be legally agreed out of.

 

[shplock]

And parents don't have any control over their child's peers, music, or social media, do they? Please. I get so tired of parents blaming everyone and everything but themselves for how their kids turn out. It's your fault. Own it.

No it is not. if you were a parent you would know better. I have an uncle who was an amazing dad to his son. H eyelid everything to help him and yet there was no helping him. My cousin was and is a piece of ****.
He has done so much wrong in his life I would be here all day explaining what.
yet my uncle did all he could. He talked to his son, he spent money coming up with ways to help keep him out of the courts. he did not matter if he got tough, was nice, punished him. His son did as he wanted to no matter what.
Kids can and do have a mind of their own. As parents all we can do is advise and try out best to show our kids the right way to grown up and be there for them when they make mistakes.Hopefully learning along the way.
[doublepost=1526932513][/doublepost]

Yeah, until 10 years from now you find out about all the things they went through to circumvent whatever checks you put in place.

Only if the kids do not respect the parents etc.My kids respect me and I respect them. Plus I know all the tricks and loopholes..nothing they can do i can't stop or know about.

 

[karazelle]

True however as a parent we have to do our best to remove and block as many threats and dangers for our kids as we can.
...
I do blame the guy and I agree with you that it is not the parent's fault or her fault...though I will simply add that I myself try to protect my kids from dangers until they can do so themselves. Even then I will still protect, I can not just stop caring because they are grown up.
...

Fair. What I was responding to was the blame game though. I don't think it was fair to blame her or her parents. My parents still love me and my older sister even though we have grown up, and will forever see us as their kids and want the best for us, but I don't have to tell my father where I go or what I do or who I speak to and he has not insisted on installing spyware on my phone or computer. They recognize that I am an adult and also treat me like one.

 

[Fixey]

Its already concerning enough when you have login credentials that have been explicitly exposed, but especially with the sensitivity of when it involves children’s information.

Passwords are never stored on a database, this company should of never of stored them but they did and they even stored them as plain text, ASCII what was this company thinking of.

 

[karazelle]

[doublepost=1526932513][/doublepost]

Only if the kids do not respect the parents etc.My kids respect me and I respect them. Plus I know all the tricks and loopholes..nothing they can do i can't stop or know about.

Also, even if the child was able to "fool" or "trick" their parents don't mean the child didn't appreciate that their parents love them and cared for them and their safety.

 

[twilson]

Incompetence and negligence.

Good luck getting any form of compensation or refund.

https://www.teensafe.com/helps/terms/

Sadly for them, that probably won’t hold much weight. They should just think themselves lucky it wasn’t on the 25th May. The EU GDPR would nail their asses to the wall!

 

[Will.O.Bie]

What you mean take their phones away totally and let them grow up, as children have done for the past couple of million years as well rounded, normal human beings, without worrying, and staying up and night due to what someone may say about them, or needing to broadcast their every action to social media for their friends to see?

Yes. Let's take the dam phones away and let them grow up as well adjusted people before the curse of the mobile phone it thrust into their lives.

Don't forget grown men and women predators trolling for kids that want attention that overworked parents are unable to provide for them. You can make the argument of not being a "helicopter parent" as someone here said but those are different times and different eras that you grew up in. When you have mass shootings at schools becoming a norm just about every month, you really need to keep track of your kids now more than ever.

I guess what I'm saying is to each his own on trying to guide a human being in this ever growing dangerous world we live in. If an app, or something similar will help me do that, then I would be doing my job as a parent to keep my kids safe regardless of anyone's take on the matter. Just my $.02

 

[andy89]

Deleted because I don't want to start a flame war.

 

[Fiachers]

As I read these comments, it's easy to tell who are parent's and who are not.

To those who are not, you really have no basis to be criticizing a parent for monitoring their child's activities. As long as I am responsible for my children, I will do what I can to monitor and protect them even if that means they give up a little privacy.

As someone who was a child, and is a human...no. Not everyone parents the same way. Not everyone is a fascist. Thanks.

 

[warp9]

This is why AWS has a giant banner on the config page that says: "Are you sure you want to make everything public? (not recommended)".

Give people the chance to leave the front door unlocked and they'll take it.