Apple's controversial Chinese supplier Foxconn was battling on Thursday to contain a security breach after hackers joined the mounting protest over iPhone factory conditions by leaking the login details of its entire staff.
A group calling itself Swagg Security taunted Terry Gou, the chief executive of Foxconn's parent company Hon Hai Industries, by posting his username and password
along with a mass of other sensitive information on the PirateBay and Pastebin websites.
According to The Guardian, the hack, publicized in a series of Twitter alerts, came as campaigners delivered petitions demanding an ethically made iPhone 5 – the
new model is expected later this year – at Apple stores in London, New York, San Francisco, Sydney and Bangalore.
The controversy could also marr the release of Apple's iPad 3, now expected in March.
More than 250,000 people have signed two petitions, organised by campaign platforms SumOfUs and Change.org.