A mother from Cochrane, Alberta, Susanne Jarman, has issued a warning to the public after experiencing a series of hacking incidents linked to a gaming app she downloaded for her daughter.
The alleged app, Wolf Online 2, was downloaded from Apple’s App Store in February for her nine-year-old daughter, who has a keen interest in animal-themed games.
However, shortly after the installation, Jarman began noticing suspicious activities. “There was a time where there was a screen sharing almost, my character dispersed and he was telling us ‘don’t move,'” Jarman recalled to CTV News Calgary. Concerned, she promptly deleted the game and began monitoring her devices. To her horror, she discovered a new shared folder in her notes containing her financial files, indicating a breach in her iCloud.
The situation escalated as hackers somehow managed to change her Apple ID credentials and gain access to all her accounts. Despite her efforts to secure her accounts by changing passwords and creating new emails, the hacking persisted. Among the stolen data were her banking details, tax documents, and most heartbreakingly, photos of her late husband.
Jarman expressed her distress over the situation, stating, “It is so hard to go back to the 1990s, people don’t want to do that. You go to a place and they ask for your email address and I don’t have one that’s secure.” She has since called for the removal of the game from the App Store and urged other parents to be cautious.
Apple has acknowledged the issue and is currently investigating the matter. They have also advised users to familiarize themselves with guidelines on Apple ID and iCloud security. The developers of Wolf Game 2 have yet to comment on the situation.
Typically, the App Store and games are ‘sandboxed’ from accessing user data. It’s unclear how the game managed to hack Jarman’s personal accounts and access her Apple ID.
