Tech giant Apple hacked

Tech giant Apple on Tuesday said a "small number" of its company computers were hit by hackers who took advantage of flaws in the Java plug-in for Web browsers. The infection of malicious software was similar to the one Facebook acknowledged last week.

"The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies and was spread through a website for software developers," Apple said.

The Java vulnerability is well known, and the Silicon Valley company has attempted to disable the plug-in on all Macs. Last month, the US Department of Homeland Security recommended disabling Java in Web browsers to avoid hacking.

Despite the breach, Apple said no data was stolen. "There is no evidence that any data left Apple," Apple said. "We are working closely with law enforcement to find the source of the malware."

Apple, the maker of iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macintosh computers, is the latest in a series of recent cyber attacks on US technology firms.

"Facebook was not alone in this attack," the California-based company said. "It is clear that others were attacked and infiltrated recently as well."

Earlier this month Twitter said it was also hit by hacking and that the passwords of about 250,000 users were stolen.

"This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident," Twitter information security director Bob Lord said in a blog post at the time.

US newspapers The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal recently said that they had also been hacked, however they pointed to attackers from China.

hc/jm (AFP, AP, dpa)