Every developer would have to inspect every line of code, recompile, reissue a certificate and send out a new version to every customer. Breaking into a developer portal is regarded as a doomsday scenario or 'nuclear' equivalent in software terms because if the break in was sophisticated enough it couldpossibly issue false updates to consumers software, false updates to bootram on hardware or could possibly be targeted at developers and introduce viruses/backdoors into source code. But all iOS devices would be dead in their tracks, needing a complete wipe to come back to life. Literally (albeit a user could bypass this on MacOS X by clicking through a ton of 'IM PRETTY SURE THIS IS A VIRUS, DONT PRESS YES' prompts. If had a serious breach that required reissuing certificates everyones computers (on the next update, or whenever gatekeeper gets new certificate dumps) would stop working. If compromised they'd need to start over. Not 'in theory' or in some academic thought but Apple maintains and manages applications that are allowed to run on its platforms from that site. If Apple had to reject all of its developer certificates every application and OS on every computer that runs iOS or MacOS X would need to be replaced. Hacks into certificate systems have killed companies overnight. In addition it issues certificates used for signing code as secure. It distributes the code to build the code for all iOS/MacOS X devices.

Credit cards can be canceled, Apple could supply them to the merchant, contact the customers but thats less complicated then having a developer site hacked. In-fact, I think it would have been less of a serious issue if every credit card from Apple was stolen.

No one seems to addressing how much of a shit storm this could have been and how serious it is to have a development site hacked. I agree with you, but I don't think that's why apple is taking it so seriously.

Apple developer tools hacked