Apple posts status page for systems hit by developer site hack, still offline after seven days

By Trevor Mogg July 25, 2013

The security breach which hit Apple’s developer site recently was evidently a deeply serious affair, with the site moving into its eighth day of downtime as the company works to get it fixed and back online.

The site, which provides third-party software developers with app-related resources, information and downloads, is still offering some services to developers, but its login functionality has been out of action since Thursday last week.

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In a new message on its login page posted Wednesday, Apple apologized for the “significant” inconvenience.

“We’ve been working around the clock to overhaul our developer systems, update our server software, and rebuild our entire database,” the message said.

To keep developers up to date with progress, the Cupertino company has put up a new “system status” page (screenshot below) to indicate which elements of the developer site are once again functional.

apple system status — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Apple said it was giving priority to certificates, identifiers and profiles, Apple developer forums, bug reporter, pre-release developer libraries, and videos, though there’s no indication of how long the work will take.

After that, it’ll restore software downloads, giving developers the opportunity to continue their work with the latest betas of iOS 7, Xcode 5, and OS X Mavericks.

At the time of writing, only two of the 15 listed systems are operational, so Apple clearly has some way to go before the developer site is completely fixed.

When the site was taken offline by the tech company last week, it posted a message saying only that maintenance work was taking place. Over the weekend, however, the company posted another message saying that the site had, in fact, suffered a serious security breach, adding that “an intruder” had entered the site in an effort to steal personal information.

Apple said it was adamant that sensitive personal information of registered developers had not been accessed, though admitted it was possible the names, mailing addresses, and/or email addresses of some developers could have been accessed.

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