New statements from Apple make it clear that they do not believe a hacker , or group of hackers , breached any of their systems . This comes after a recent report from Motherboard that a hacker gang called the `` Turkish Crime Family '' is threatening to remotely wipe up to 559 million iPhones by April 7 . The hackers claim they hold an alleged cache of stolen accounts , and their goal is to shake down Attack.Ransom the big Apple for $ 75,000 in Bitcoin or Ethereum cryptocurrency . Alternatively , in lieu of those options , they will even accept Attack.Ransom $ 100,000 in iTunes gift cards ( a potentially risky option for them ) . Apple responded to the allegation that the hackers breached Attack.Databreach its systems , assuring their systems were not compromised Attack.Databreach , but did not confirm if the hackers do in fact hold Attack.Databreach an entire collection of Apple IDs and passwords . Whatever information they do have , probably came from previously comprised third-parties . `` If the list is legitimate , it was not obtained Attack.Databreach through any hack Attack.Databreach of Apple , '' an Apple spokesperson told Fortune in an email . `` There have not been any breaches Attack.Databreach in any of Apple 's systems including iCloud and Apple ID . '' Even if the data did n't come from an Apple breach Attack.Databreach , it could still mean your iCloud login details are out there . Fortune suggested that the logins could be from the LinkedIn hack Attack.Databreach , in which login info from 117 million accounts was sold on the black market site `` The Real Deal . '' Though , if the Turkish Crime Family really has 559 million accounts , well , a mere fraction of the 117 million from LinkedIn does n't really cut it . The hackers have been sending login information to media companies in an effort to gather attention to their scam . For example , The Next Web received a small fraction of the alleged data from the hackers , and cross-referenced the info with the site Have I Been Pwned , which checks to see if your email or username has been compromised Attack.Databreach in a hack . Most of the samples provided to TNW do n't appear to have been involved in the LinkedIn hack or other hacks in the Pwned database , but TNW was able to access Attack.Databreach the accounts with the login information provided by the hackers , so the info looks legitimate . They ca n't test every login , so the small sample may not be indicative of the whole . The Turkish Crime Family also noted to TNW that all conversations with Apple were actually kept private and never reported to Motherboard . Instead , the conversation between the Turkish Crime Family and Motherboard were led by a member that has now been removed for his `` inaccuracy '' and `` lack of professionalism , '' an the group denies the authenticity of Motherboard 's report . Overall , the hacking team seems to have a hard time sticking to one story . Now , the hacker group is confirming Apple 's statement that its systems have not been breached Attack.Databreach , and that the stolen data was obtained Attack.Databreach through previously compromised systems over the last five years . The Turkish Crime Family is , in fact , not contradicting Apple . They did not breach Attack.Databreach the company , nor did they ever state to Motherboard that they stole Attack.Databreach the info directly from Apple . Rather , after Motherboard 's breaking March 21 report , a breach was assumed by some news outlets such as BGR , though most media sites never directly stated that the hackers breached Apple . The Turkish Crime Family 's initial response to Motherboard , and the group 's only statement , was to extort Attack.Ransom Apple over an alleged cache of iCloud and other Apple email accounts . The group never stated where their cache of data came from until today when they contacted TNW in response to Apple .

Apple is reassuring customers that its systems have not been breached Attack.Databreach while a hacker , or hackers , threaten to remotely wipe hundreds of millions iPhones of all their data , including photos , videos , and messages . The hackers are using an alleged cache of stolen email accounts and passwords as leverage in an attempt to extort Attack.Ransom the world ’ s most valuable company . They claim to have access Attack.Databreach to as many as 559 million Apple email and iCloud accounts , Vice blog Motherboard reported on Tuesday . The group , calling itself “ Turkish Crime Family , ” said it would delete its alleged list of compromised login credentials only after Apple pays Attack.Ransom it $ 75,000 in cryptocurrency , either Bitcoin or rival Ether , or $ 100,000 worth of iTunes gift cards , Motherboard reported . The group has given Apple ( aapl ) a deadline of April 7 to meet its demands . Though Apple has not officially confirmed the authenticity of the data that the hackers say they have , an Apple spokesperson told Fortune in an emailed statement that , if the list is legitimate , it was not obtained Attack.Databreach through any hack Attack.Databreach of Apple . “ There have not been any breaches Attack.Databreach in any of Apple ’ s systems including iCloud and Apple ID , ” the spokesperson said . “ The alleged list of email addresses and passwords appears to have been obtained Attack.Databreach from previously compromised Attack.Databreach third-party services ” . A person familiar with the contents of the alleged data set said that many of the email accounts and passwords contained within it matched data leaked Attack.Databreach in a past breach Attack.Databreach at LinkedIn . The company representative declined to elaborate on what steps Apple had taken to monitor the situation . The spokesperson merely noted that such measures , whatever they may be , are “ standard procedure ” . Apple customers who secure their iCloud accounts with the same passwords they use on other online accounts—especially ones at LinkedIn , Yahoo ( yhoo ) , Dropbox , and other sites recently revealed to have suffered big breaches over the past few years—should adopt new passwords that are long , strong , and unique . Many security experts also recommend storing them in a password manager , and activating two-factor authentication , an additional layer of security , where available .