Two arrested over iPad hack

US prosecutors have charged two men with stealing and distributing e-mail addresses for about 120 000 users of Apple's popular iPad.

Investigators accused Daniel Spitler and Andrew Auernheimer of using an 'account slurper' to conduct a 'brute force' attack over five days last June, to extract data about iPad users who accessed the Internet through AT&T's 3G network.

The possible victims were celebrities

Among the possible victims were celebrities, business executives and government officials just as New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer, movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and perhaps at the time-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said both defendants are associated with Goatse Security, a group of "self-professed Internet trolls" who try to disrupt online content and services. They said Auernheimer bragged in published interviews about his trolling.

The spur of the moment available to comment

Lawyers for both defendants were not on the spur of the moment available to comment. Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller declined to comment. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said the company cooperates with law enforcement when necessary to protect customer privacy.

Apple released the iPad last April. On Tuesday, it reported sales of 7.33 million of the tablet computers in its quarter ended 25 December, which included the holiday shopping season.

AT&T was Apple's partner in the US to provide wireless service on the iPad. Afterwards the hacking, it shut off the feature that allowed e-mail addresses to be obtained.

The case "has hopefully awakened users to the value of a simple e-mail address," said Jamz Yaneza, a threat technology manager at Internet security company Trend Micro.