According to Daily Mail, Kerem Albayrak, a tech analyst from London, has been charged with blackmail after allegedly posting a video of him browsing hacked iCloud accounts. Albayrak claimed that he would leak the personal data of 319 mln iCloud users, giving a major blow to Apple. For this not to happen, he demanded the trillion-dollar tech giant to pay him £133,000 in Bitcoin.
The court hearing revealed the initial sum was only £50,000, but later Albayrak decided to milk more money from Apple. Apart from Bitcoin, he also wanted iTunes gift cards. The prosecutor Lorna Vincent states that all the threats were sent to Apple by email.
Albayrak’s trial preparation hearing at Southwark Crown Court is scheduled for Nov. 14, four weeks after the magistrates’ court hearing.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team