Someone has used findmyiphone to erase both my iPhone and iPad.

Question

Yesterday both my iPhone 4 and i pad mini were automatically erased (NOT by me!) within a minute of each other.
When i went on line I had two message from Apple saying that findmyiphone had done this.(One message about the phone, one about the i pad)
There was also an email saying that my apple password had been changed.
I contacted apple support and was able to change my password (and my email password)
I just turned on my i pod - and it asked for my apple password - but I don't know why it would ask that - it doesn't usually...
looks like I have been hacked - but not sure where to go from here - or what else the hackers intend to do?
Has anyone else suffered this and what happened?

Answer 1

Someone has hacked your Apple ID, and used it to erase your devices. (Or, perhaps, someone who knows you and knows your Apple ID password used this to access your account and erase your devices.)
An iOS 7 device that has been erased in this manner cannot be restored without providing the password for the Apple ID used to erase it. This is an anti-theft feature, and not even Apple can bypass it for you. You must be able to access your Apple ID, or you will be locked out of the device permanently, and this makes it extremely important to protect your Apple ID!
Sounds like you have changed your Apple ID password, which is good. You should also change the password for the e-mail account that was associated with the Apple ID, as well as the password for the account currently associated with the Apple ID (just to be safe). Do not use the same password for any of these accounts. If you used the your old Apple ID password for any other online accounts, change those passwords as well.
In addition, change your Apple ID security questions, to be sure the hacker cannot get back in by resetting the password.
Finally, you should seriously consider enabling two-factor authentication on your Apple ID, which makes it nearly impossible for an attacker to manage to take away access to your Apple ID permanently, if it ever gets hacked again.