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Apple officially suspends over-the-phone password resets for iCloud

Apple officially suspends over-the-phone password resets for iCloud

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Apple has temporarily stopped offering iCloud password resets over the phone, instead directing users to answer security questions or send a password reset link to an alternate email address, after writer Mat Honan's account was hacked using this method.

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Following a devastating hack of writer Mat Honan's iCloud account, Apple has confirmed that it's stopped offering password resets over the phone. "We’ve temporarily suspended the ability to reset AppleID passwords over the phone," spokeswoman Natalie Kerris told Wired. "We’re asking customers who need to reset their password to continue to use our online iForgot system (iforgot.apple.com)." This system allows customers to either have a password reset link sent to an alternate email address or answer security questions. We're not sure when phone-based resets will be started up again, but Kerris says that when they are, "customers will be required to provide even stronger identify verification to reset their password."

Apple had previously issued a 24-hour freeze on phone resets, but this announcement gives us a better idea of what the company plans to do next. Since the hackers were apparently able to get a temporary email password without even answering Honan's security questions over the phone, it's got a ways to go. Meanwhile, Amazon has also stopped over-the-phone account changes, and Google is pushing its more secure two-step authentication process.