Hackers reveal details of thousands of iPad 'VIPs'

They thought they were among the lucky few: the "VIPs" who were the very first to get their hands on Apple's latest gadget. But those high-ranking military officials, media bosses and even White House staff might now be wishing they hadn't bothered, after an online security breach exposed the personal details of thousands of iPad users.

The email addresses of around 114,000 Apple iPad owners who subscribe via America's second largest mobile phone provider AT&T were hacked by a group that exposes flaws in internet security. Among those believed to have been affected are Harvey Weinstein, the film-maker, Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York City, and Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff. The New York Times also told its staff to shut off iPad wireless access after learning of the breach, according to a memo confirmed by the company.

The attack, by hackers who call themselves Goatse Security, exposed a weakness in a part of AT&T's website used to prompt users' of their email addresses, making it easier for them to log-in via their iPad.

The breach is being interpreted as a major embarrassment for Apple and AT&T and comes just weeks after a member of Apple staff lost an iPhone prototype in a bar, which was dismantled, photographed and posted online by a technology blog.

Internet security expert Graham Cluley wrote that targeting users would be possible. But he played down the significance of the attack. In a blog post, he said "[no further] information about the individuals appears to have been exposed - for instance, there are no passwords, real names, phone numbers, dates of birth". He added that the breach would cause embarrassment.

AT&T said the problem had been fixed on Tuesday. "We take customer privacy very seriously and while we have fixed this problem, we apologise to our customers."

Apple has sold more than two million iPads since they went on sale two months ago. Apple did not respond to requests for a comment.

- INDEPENDENT