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"&amp;lt;vc&amp;gt;&amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;Apple has begun asking users to select and answer a series of questions associated with their Apple IDs to enhance security measures.&amp;lt;/strong&amp;gt;\r\n\r\nThe security prompts began popping up on iOS devices &amp;lt;a href=\"http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/04/apple-prompting-users-for-security-questions-to-bolster-apple-id-security.ars\"&amp;gt;on Wednesday&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;, according to &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Ars Technica&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;. Users are met with a prompt that states \"Security Info Required.\"\r\n\r\nAfter being shown the message, users are asked to select from a number of security questions and provide personal answers. Users are also prompted to provide a backup e-mail address in case the primary address associated with their Apple ID is compromised.\r\n\r\nThe changes are meant to curb fraud and phishing attempts that &amp;lt;a href=\"http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/07/04/itunes_app_store_hit_by_developer_and_account_fraud.html\"&amp;gt;have been used&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; for many years to hijack iTunes accounts. Because credit card information is tied to a user's account, nefarious people will steal and resell accounts, allowing people to buy content like music, movies and applications on someone else's dime.\r\n\r\nThis week's changes are only the latest in a &amp;lt;a href=\"http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/08/15/apple_id_security_bolstered_forums_taken_offline_after_apparent_hack.html\"&amp;gt;series of measures&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; by Apple over the years to improve security associated with iTunes accounts. Some of the steps taken include requiring users to verify their account information when they log into new devices, and upgrading passwords to make them more complex with varying characters.\r\n\r\n&amp;lt;div align=\"center\"&amp;gt;&amp;lt;img src=\"http://photos.appleinsider.com/security-120412.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" alt=\"Security\" /&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;&amp;lt;span class=\"minor2\"&amp;gt;Screens &amp;lt;a href=\"http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/04/12/apple-enhances-apple-id-account-security-in-itunes-and-on-ios-devices-leaving-users-confused/\"&amp;gt;via&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;The Next Web&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;.&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;\r\n\r\nSome users have &amp;lt;a href=\"https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3869387?start=15&amp;amp;tstart=0\"&amp;gt;been confused&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; by the new security prompts appearing this week, and have expressed concern on the Apple Support Communities website that the alerts could be bogus phishing attempts. However, the revised measures have been proven to be legitimate, and Apple has admitted they are part of an ongoing effort to bolster security."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/04/12/apple_improving_itunes_account_security_with_stricter_requirements/>