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"AT&amp;T sent out a letter to customers apologizing for the recent security breach that resulted in the exposure of 114,000 iPad 3G customer e-mails. In the letter, AT&amp;T explains some details about the incident, assuring customers that they can continue to use their AT&amp;T 3G service on the iPad \"with confidence.\"\nThe e-mails were exposed by a group known as Goatse Security, who obtained them by running a script on AT&amp;T\u2019s website. The script returned e-mail addresses associated with ICC IDs, used to link SIM cards on mobile devices with specific subscribers.\nFrom the letter:\n\n\"On June 7 we learned that unauthorized computer 'hackers' maliciously exploited a function designed to make your iPad log-in process faster by pre-populating an AT&amp;T authentication page with the email address you used to register your iPad for 3G service. The self-described hackers wrote software code to randomly generate numbers that mimicked serial numbers of the AT&amp;T SIM card for iPad \u2013 called the integrated circuit card identification (ICC-ID) \u2013 and repeatedly queried an AT&amp;T web address. When a number generated by the hackers matched an actual ICC-ID, the authentication page log-in screen was returned to the hackers with the email address associated with the ICC-ID already populated on the log-in screen.\nThe hackers deliberately went to great efforts with a random program to extract possible ICC-IDs and capture customer email addresses. They then put together a list of these emails and distributed it for their own publicity.\nAs soon as we became aware of this situation, we took swift action to prevent any further unauthorized exposure of customer email addresses. Within hours, AT&amp;T disabled the mechanism that automatically populated the email address. Now, the authentication page log-in screen requires the user to enter both their email address and their password.\"\n\nAlthough the security breach was limited to e-mail addresses and AT&amp;T reacted promptly, a certain amount of damage has been done. The letter warns that the exposed e-mails could be used against the customers. \"While the attack was limited to email address and ICC-ID data, we encourage you to be alert to scams that could attempt to use this information to obtain other data or send you unwanted email,\" said the letter. \n\n\nFor more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2010/06/14/att-apologizes-ipad-security-breach/>