Security firm warns of iPad user data risk

Researchers have gained access to the email addresses of more than 114,000 iPad 3G users

Vulnerability research firm Goatse Security claims to have found a security flaw in AT&T's protocols that exposes the personal data of more than 114,000 iPad buyers.

The company ran an open script on AT&T's web site which passed on the email addresses of owners based on the ID number of their 3G iPad, according to a report on Gawker.

By guessing an ID number range from publicly available web site images the team wrote a PHP script which harvested email addresses from 114,067 iPad 3G owners.

The addresses included White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, the head of the US B1 strategic bomber group and numerous executives at Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon.

Also included were executives at The New York Times, Dow Jones, Viacom, Time Warner, News Corporation and staff officers in the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Department of Justice, Nasa and the Department of Homeland Security.

There is currently no known way to use AT&T ID codes for accessing data on the iPad, but researchers at Goatse Security reportedly expressed concerns that the vulnerability, coupled with existing problems in the safety of GSM for reliable data transfer, could leave more data open to hacking.