The hacker's victims received lost iPhone alerts on their devices, which were then followed by a demand for money. Ransom amounts ranged from $50 to $100 and owners were told to send the money via PayPal. A few users were able to unlock their devices if they had a passcode set up, but most were completely locked out of their iPhones, iPads, and Macs. A few unfortunate souls even lost access to multiple devices at the same time.
Apple's support forums and Twitter exploded with upset iDevice owners, looking for a quick fix.
"I was using my iPad a short while ago, when suddenly it locked itself…" one bewildered user wrote on Apple's support page. "I went to check my phone and there was a message on the screen (it's still there) saying that my device(s) had been hacked by 'Oleg Pliss' and he/she/they demanded $100 USD/EUR (sent by PayPal)."
It is highly unlikely that the hacker used his real name and one Oleg Pliss, who is employed by Oracle, is certainly not the culprit. The true name of the hacker and his whereabouts are currently unknown.
"I have the same problem, with the exact same message," another user wrote. "Affecting both my iPhone and iPad. Have reset passwords on all my applications (banking, email, social media etc) just in case."
So far, all of the incidents that have been reported occurred in Australia. It is unknown how the hacker managed to gain access to so many Apple IDs, but it's possible that a database breach is to blame. Many users reuse passwords and email addresses for multiple accounts, putting themselves at risk for such an attack. At this point, Apple has not commented on the issue. Affected iOS and Mac users are encouraged to contact Apple or their cellular carrier to address the issue.
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