A young British hacker wanted to blackmail Cupertino but it was he who quickly became disillusioned. After asking for a large sum in iTunes cards, he was quickly caught by the English authorities.

He was looking for cyber recognition. But tackling the Apple juggernaut was perhaps not the best idea that this young 22-year-old Londoner could have. He indeed made several representatives of the brand believe that he had managed to hack 319 million iCloud accounts and threatened to sell access to the highest bidder unless a ransom was paid to him in the form of prepaid cards.

The stock market or the data?

It was in 2017 that the hacker made a first attempt at intimidation. he first asks Apple for $ 75,000 in cryptocurrency or in iTunes cards, otherwise he threatens to share his finds with his pirate friends. Apple ignores the threat and the hacker returns.

He demands that 100,000 dollars be paid to him in the form of iTunes cards. To show how serious he is, he sends Apple a YouTube video in which he is hacking two iCloud accounts chosen ” quite random ” according to him, two days before increasing the ransom.

In doubt and although no trace of large-scale infringement has been detected by Apple, the brand still reported the blackmail attempt to the American and English authorities in March 2017. It is the National Crime Agency Englishwoman (NCA) who was responsible for conducting the investigation and who easily ascended to the hacker at the time.

Old accounts already compromised

After seizing several electronic devices at his home in north London, the NCA realized that the pirate was part of a small group whose members were all of Turkish origin, and not particularly active in the field large-scale cybercrime.

After analyzing the devices and in accordance with Apple’s initial conclusions, the NCA confirmed that there were absolutely no files that could support the claims of the English hacker. He had simply hacked into two iCloud accounts and thought he could go further without being noticed. No huge breach had been opened in Apple’s cloud storage service. More fun, the few data that were in his possession turned out to be the remains of a booty collected by hackers a long time ago and had no value.

Confronted by investigators, this young man said:

” Once you’ve got your finger on the web of cybercrime, the machine is racing and it’s even more exciting because it’s illegal.” When you have even a little power on the Internet, it’s huge and it sets you apart from the crowd. Everyone respects you and that is what many people are looking for today. “

The young man was sentenced to attempted blackmail and received a two-year suspended prison sentence, 300 hours of community service and must now wear an electronic bracelet for 6 months.