They did so so at least 1/12 of the people the FBI is tracking could see if they were on the list. I wasn't on the list, but I could still be on one of the other 11 million UDIDs. I love how more people are pissed that hackers have some of them when the FBI had them in the first place. Fucking idiots.
Agreed.
Which brings me to my second question. Why were these on a laptop?
Is the problem really the laptop? People who work with information tend to carry it around that way.
For all intents yes it is the problem. A few years back sensitive government data was left on laptops and USB drives which was left on public transport across london. A few times.
How do you avoid these hacks/leakages happening in this fashion? Don't allow the data to leave the building.
By putting it on a portable device the risk of theft or unauthorised access simply increases. Even with encryption, you're still physically carrying the device that contains the data you want.
I'm not going to get into why they had it as thats not the primary issue for me. If they can't keep the data they
do have secure by policy then that tends to worry me more.