Blue Toad Publishing Company Admits Stolen 'FBI' UDIDs Came From Them

BluetoadA week ago, a hacker group released a dump of 1 million unique identifiers (UDIDs) from Apple iOS devices. The group claimed they acquired the list from the FBI, but the law enforcement organization denied it a day later.

Now, a small App Store publishing company in Florida called Blue Toad says the IDs were stolen from its servers, reports NBC News.

A small Florida publishing company says the million-record database of Apple gadget identifiers released last week by the hacker group Anonymous was stolen from its servers two weeks ago. The admission, delivered by the company’s CEO exclusively to NBC News, contradicts Anonymous' claim that the hacker group stole the data from an FBI agent's laptop in March.

[...]

Paul DeHart, CEO of the Blue Toad publishing company, told NBC News that technicians at his firm downloaded the data released by Anonymous and compared it to the company's own database. The analysis found a 98 percent correlation between the two datasets.

The CEO noted that as they analyzed the leaked data, the company found a 98 percent correlation between the stolen data and their own, DeHart told NBC."As soon as we found out we were involved and victimized, we approached the appropriate law enforcement officials, and we began to take steps to come forward, clear the record and take responsibility for this."

NBC spoke to an Apple spokesperson about the revelation, as well: "As an app developer, BlueToad would have access to a user's device information such as UDID, device name and type. Developers do not have access to users' account information, passwords or credit card information, unless a user specifically elects to provide that information to the developer."

Apple has moved away from using the unique device identifier, or UDID, as a means for identifying a particular user for privacy reasons. Earlier this year, Apple began rejecting iOS apps that utilized the UDID, in favor of alternate identification schemes.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon: New Features for Your iPhone and Release Date

Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1. Release Date Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
iOS 26

6 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.1

Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below. Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
maxresdefault

Apple TV 4K Could Still Launch Before 2025 Ends: All the Rumored Features

Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors. ...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1 Release Candidates

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:07 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

M6 MacBook Pro: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

8 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Thursday October 30, 2025 4:42 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
macos tahoe

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for macOS Tahoe 26.1

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:21 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of macOS Tahoe 26.1, which means the update will likely see a public launch next week. The release candidate includes notes on what's in the update, so we have a full picture of the new features that Apple has included. macOS Tahoe 26.1 adds AutoMix support over AirPlay, improved FaceTime audio...
ipad mini 7 feature blue

OLED iPad Mini: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Wednesday October 29, 2025 7:13 am PDT by
Rumors are stoking excitement for the next-generation iPad mini that Apple is reportedly close to launching. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out. Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to...
iPhone Car Key Kia

Another Vehicle Brand Gaining iPhone Car Keys Support

Tuesday October 28, 2025 5:27 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to bring support for its digital car key feature to Jetour vehicles, according to evidence uncovered on Apple's backend by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. Introduced in 2022, Car Keys allows an iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock a vehicle through the Wallet app. A digital version of a car key is stored in Wallet, and unlocking can be done by holding an Apple Watch or...

Top Rated Comments

184550 Avatar
172 months ago
Tinfoil hats are nonreturnable.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D.T. Avatar
172 months ago
Next update: FBI admits they're actually the hacker group ...
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bacaramac Avatar
172 months ago
So the FBI needed a fall guy. Haha only kidding.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FlipboardCM Avatar
172 months ago
Flipboard is made by Flipboard, Inc. We are not associated with Blue Toad in any way. You can learn more about us on our website (http://flipboard.com/).

Also, we do not use UDID data for our service.

Thanks,
~ FlipboardCM
Flipboard Community Manager
Twitter: @FlipboardCM
email: support@flipboard.com
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mundty Avatar
172 months ago
You're all wrong.

This is clearly Obama's doing! These UDIDs will be used to identify and enable a citizen's GPS, whereby which a drone will be sent to your coordinates and fire rockets at your precise location, as you explode into a bloody mist.

It's all part of Obama's secret predator drone kill list, which specifically targets Americans planning to vote for Romney. Long story short, if you're on the list Obama's got your number, and he's coming for you.

I watch a lot of Fox News.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
669532 Avatar
172 months ago
It's a little worrying all these little/smaller companies are holding any data like this in unsecured locations - ripe for the picking.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)