Apple employees are often targets of hackers wanting to gain access to their company credentials, but it is claimed staff are being offered bribes to share their account details. According to a report, hackers are offering high prices for account passwords, with bribes to some staff exceeding $20,000, all in the name of acquiring precious internal information and data that could be sold online to interested parties for far higher figures.
Two sources confirmed to
Business Insider that Apple staff are being contacted for their credentials. "You'd be surprised how many people get on to us, just random Apple employees," advised one source, identified to be a current employee based
in Ireland. "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 ($23,000) tomorrow. That's how much people are trying."
A second source, a former employee, explained how attackers would target more recent employees that had enjoyed fast career advancement, as they would theoretically be more susceptible to being bribed. "They look for someone who has jumped diagonally into a junior managerial position, so not a lifer working their way up, and not a lifer who has been there a long time." The source also revealed Apple is aware of the issue and launched a scheme called "Grow Your Own" to combat it, though did not go into detail about the program.
It is unknown what exactly the would-be hackers want to acquire from within Apple's internal systems, but the company's tight security for even its own employees suggests the attackers may not get far enough to acquire anything of significant value. It is also unknown if employees based in other parts of the world are receiving similar bribery attempts.
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