14 DAY TRIAL // Apple employees at the company’s headquarters in Ireland are believed to be the targets of hackers who are offering them thousands of dollars in exchange for their login details.
Trying to get access to company computers and data, hackers promise to pay up to €20,000 ($23,000) for a password that would provide them with access to the company’s corporate network and would allow them to infiltrate into its servers.
Apple fights back with internal campaign
A report by Business Insider and citing employees who have already been targeted by such attempts reveals that hackers contact their potential victims via email and that, in most of the cases, they look for new employees, who are yet to make a career within the company.
“You'd be surprised how many people get on to us, just random Apple employees,” one targeted Irish employee is quoted as saying. “You get emails offering you thousands [of euros] to get a password to get access to Apple. I could sell my Apple ID login information online for €20,000 (£15,000 / $23,000) tomorrow. That’s how much people are trying.”
At this point, it’s not yet clear what hackers are trying to obtain after getting access to the company’s network, but reaching product information or strategies is very unlikely because only the highest executives in the company hold such data. Furthermore, most of these executives are based in Cupertino at the main Apple headquarters, so targeting Irish employee might be part of a smaller plan.
Apple is already aware of these attacks and has launched an internal campaign called “Grow Your Own,” which is most likely supposed to allow employees to continue their careers within the company and thus make sure they are committed to the firm.
At the same time, Apple is said to be super cautious these days, with the aforementioned report’s sources explaining that the company has become “very, very careful” as far as security is concerned.