How To Change Your iCloud Password: Apple Denies Hackers Stole iCloud Credentials

Apple reassured customers that its servers have not been breached and user iCloud information has not been stolen despite claims made earlier this week by a hacker group attempting to blackmail the company over stolen usernames and passwords.

“There have not been any breaches in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud and Apple ID. The alleged list of email addresses and passwords appears to have been obtained from previously compromised third-party services,” a spokesperson for Apple told Fortune.

Read: Apple, iCloud Accounts Stolen? Hackers Blackmailing Apple Over Supposed Stolen Credentials

The hacking collective known as the Turkish Crime Family claimed to be in possession of Apple login credentials earlier this week. The group said it has access to hundreds of millions of iCloud and Apple accounts and intends to wipe the devices associated with those accounts if Apple doesn’t pay a ransom.

In response to Apple’s statement, the hacking group confirmed it did not actively breach the company’s servers but rather collected the information from prior data breaches that have made their way online.

“The entire [database] was acquired and built from multiple [databases] that we have been selling in the past five years,” the group said in a statement. According to the collective, they chose to hang on to emails with @icloud.com, @me.com and @mac.com domains—all of which belong to Apple.

The group claims it has been sent more credentials from other people, which has added to the total number of accounts in their possession. The number of accounts the group has claimed has ranged from anywhere between 200 million to 750 million. In its most recent statement, the Turkish Crime Family claimed to have verified about 250 million accounts are currently active.

The seven-person group is requesting payment from Apple of $100,000 per person or $1 million worth in iTunes vouchers. The group said it has made other, private requests that it will not share for fear it would ruin relations between the group and Apple.

Read: Russian Hackers Blackmail US Liberal Groups After Stealing Emails And Documents, Report Says

The Next Web reported it was provided a small sample of the credentials and was able to successfully login to some of the accounts, meaning at the very least it does seem the Turkish Crime Family has access to some Apple accounts—though it’s impossible to say how many exactly.

How To Change Your iCloud Password

Because of the number data breaches in the past few years, the biggest risk for users is reusing passwords that have been compromised. If your password appears in one leak, it could be used to access any number of your accounts that use the same password.

To check and see if your account may have been involved in a previous leak, check Have I Been Pwned? The site has a database of more than 200 breaches and will alert you if your email account is present in any of them.

If it is, or if you just want to take the extra precaution to change your iCloud password, here’s what you need to do.

Sign in to your Apple ID account page. Go to the Security section and click “Change Password.” Enter your current password, then create a new password. You’ll be asked to confirm the new password is correct. Then click “Change Password.” This will apply the change, and you will be able to sign in to your Apple ID with your new password.