iTunes Gift Codes For Dirt Cheap, Really

*image snagged from http://early3163.net/

Digital downloads has always been a sore point for the music industry, though entities like the iTunes Music Store, and now Nokia’s Music Store, are rapidly gaining popularity. iTunes however, faces a potential setback as it appears that a group of Chinese hackers have apparently cracked the algorithm that generates the individual codes found on iTunes gift certificates.

These certificates are being sold for dirt cheap, with US$200 value certs being hocked off for as low as RMB18 (roughly equivalent to just US$2.60). The seller admits that the codes being sold using key-generators sold by the hackers themselves. Buyers pay the sellers, who then instant message the code(s) over to the purchaser.

Either that, or the codes sold were actually paid for by stolen credit card information to begin with.

If the algorithm has really been cracked, the issue is easily solved by replacing it with a new one, though that also requires Apple to consider legitimate gift cards already circulating in the market. This doesn’t appear to be a new problem though, as similar codes have been circulating as early as 6 months back, and only attracting more attention thanks to increasing competition among the sellers as well as a rapid drop in selling price.