Researcher Takes Credit for Security Breach of Apple's Developer Center - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Researcher Takes Credit for Security Breach of Apple's Developer Center

The Next Web points to a comment on a TechCrunch article taking credit for last week's unauthorized access of Apple's Developer Center last week. The comment comes from independent security researcher Ibrahim Balic, who claims that his effort was not intended to be malicious and that he reported his findings to Apple just hours before the developer site was taken down by the company.

In total I have found 13 bugs and have reported through http://bugreport.apple.com. The bugs are all reported one by one and Apple was informed. I gave details to Apple as much as I can and I’ve also added screenshots.

One of those bugs have provided me access to users details etc. I immediately reported this to Apple. I have taken 73 users details (all apple inc workers only) and prove them as an example.

apple_dev_site_back_soon_hack
Balic claims to have accessed details on over 100,000 users, but only released to Apple details on 73 of its own employees in order to prove the seriousness of the issue.

I have emailed and asked if I am putting them in any difficulty so that I can give a break to my research. I have not gotten any respond to this… I have been waiting since then for them to contact me, and today I’m reading news saying that they have been attacked and hacked. In some of the media news I watch/read that whether legal authorities were involved in its investigation of the hack. I’m not feeling very happy with what I read and a bit irritated, as I did not done this research to harm or damage. I didn’t attempt to publish or have not shared this situation with anybody else.

Balic's tactics and motives have, however, been questioned by some, with scattered reports suggesting an unusually high level of password reset requests on Apple developers' accounts over the past few days.

Apple's Developer Center remains down today, some four days after the company took it down in order to investigate the breach, update its software, and rebuild its developer database.

Popular Stories

app store monthly sub commitment

Apple Introduces App Store Monthly Subscriptions With 12-Month Commitment

Monday April 27, 2026 12:52 pm PDT by
Apple today announced the launch of a new subscription option for App Store developers: monthly subscriptions with a 12-month commitment. The new option allows developers to offer subscribers discounted pricing typically associated with an annual subscription but paid on a monthly basis to keep payments more affordable. This new payment option allows you to offer subscribers more affordable...
Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

This Is What the iPhone 18 Pro Looks Like

Saturday April 25, 2026 10:00 am PDT by
A recent leak provides our best look yet at the design of Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models. Leaker Sonny Dickson recently shared images of the first iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and foldable iPhone dummy models. The images largely conform with rumors about the designs of the three devices and provide the first real visual confirmation of how they will look. ...
MacBook Pro Low Angle Wide Lens

Apple to Launch 'MacBook Ultra' With These Six New Features

Friday April 24, 2026 10:32 am PDT by
While the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro were just updated with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips last month, bigger changes are reportedly around the corner. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the higher-end MacBook Pro models will be receiving a major redesign by early 2027, and he said that Apple might use "MacBook Ultra" branding for them. If so, the MacBook Ultra would likely be a...

Top Rated Comments

167 months ago
And why exactly did it "need" to happen?

Because Apple is clearly not keeping it's security systems up to par, and it's better for someone to do this and make it public, than for someone to do this and steal and sell as much information as he could.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
napabar Avatar
167 months ago
Well if it didn't happen Apple wouldn't have taken measures to improve security. Pretty straightforward.
OK. No problem then. I'll be over tonight to break into your house. I'm not a thief. I just want to make sure your dwelling is secure.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Reason077 Avatar
167 months ago
The most amazing revelation with this story that is suggests someone at Apple actually reads bug reports submitted through bugreport.apple.com!

This seems completely contrary to my own experience - perhaps it's actually worth reporting bugs to Apple after all.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
167 months ago
This needed to happen.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
167 months ago
"Security researcher" Yeah, that's it. Is the guy "testing" my front door with a crowbar also a security researcher?

It is nice that he gave apple a couple of hours to respond. Classy of 'im.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
167 months ago
Couldnt he have done this after Beta 4 release - DAMN HIM! ;)
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)