Russia claims Apple is helping US spy on thousands of iPhone users
Russia says that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been spying on Russian officials and civilians using iPhone backdoor vulnerabilities created for the US by Apple.
Moscow, Russia
The NSA has previously tried to get public opinion on its side as it objects to Apple's refusal to give it access to user data. But now the Federal Security Office (FSB) of Russia claims that Apple has given the NSA backdoor access after all.
According to Reuters, the FSB says that it has uncovered an NSA plot that utilized previously unknown malware to access these backdoors. It's not clear why malware would be needed if there were already backdoor access, but the FSB says several thousand iPhones in Russia were infected.
"The FSB has uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices," the FSB said in a statement seen by Reuters. "[Apple] provides American intelligence agencies with a wide range of opportunities to monitor any persons of interest to the White House and their partners in anti-Russian activities, and their own citizens.
Reportedly, the "intelligence action" targeted the iPhones of domestic Russian citizens, plus foreign diplomats based in Russia, including ones from Israel, Syria and China.
The FSB claims to have uncovered the NSA's plot with the help of Russia's Federal Guards Service, which is an agency that protects the country's leaders.
Neither Apple nor the NSA have commented.
Read on AppleInsider
Moscow, Russia
The NSA has previously tried to get public opinion on its side as it objects to Apple's refusal to give it access to user data. But now the Federal Security Office (FSB) of Russia claims that Apple has given the NSA backdoor access after all.
According to Reuters, the FSB says that it has uncovered an NSA plot that utilized previously unknown malware to access these backdoors. It's not clear why malware would be needed if there were already backdoor access, but the FSB says several thousand iPhones in Russia were infected.
"The FSB has uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices," the FSB said in a statement seen by Reuters. "[Apple] provides American intelligence agencies with a wide range of opportunities to monitor any persons of interest to the White House and their partners in anti-Russian activities, and their own citizens.
Reportedly, the "intelligence action" targeted the iPhones of domestic Russian citizens, plus foreign diplomats based in Russia, including ones from Israel, Syria and China.
The FSB claims to have uncovered the NSA's plot with the help of Russia's Federal Guards Service, which is an agency that protects the country's leaders.
Neither Apple nor the NSA have commented.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Russia has 1/4 of its people using outhouses, and living like serfs.
Russia is a failed state that is only really good at depopulating itself, and its neighbors, most of whom want to be economically tied to the EU and the West. The U.S., for all its faults, isn't even in contention for the "evil" that Russia is showing itself to have.
The same way people have asked the US to back up their claims with regards to back doors in Chinese made technology.
The US failed to provide any evidence whatsoever so I imagine Russia will try to do the same.
Is the NSA up to no good? Definitely! Just take a look at its track record. But then so are the intelligence agencies of every nation.
Until evidence is put on the table nothing can be believed.
That said, the chances of another Snowden episode are probably more like to come out of the US.
The impact on Apple/iPhone? Who knows, but the risk of a ban was there from day one and that should never be forgotten.
Almost certainly, it doesn't have anything to do with Apple, so this is just the FSB placing "blame" based on political considerations. They likely also don't really know if it's linked to the NSA or another intelligence organization, US or not. (I mean, how likely is it that the "malware" had a signature identifying it as a tool of the NSA, or any other organization) It could be the NSA, since something like this would be common for them, but it could also be another intelligence organization. It could even be the FSB's tool, and throwing blame elsewhere is just them covering their tracks.
Whistleblowers have shown fairly consistently that the Feds (and lesser governments) regularly trample on your privacy rights despite a pretty clear opinion from the SCOUTS on the privacy of your devices. It was written by Chief Justice Roberts himself.
I am sure at some level Apple is playing with the Feds - they have little to no choice in many situations - and the Feds have hacked everything from SIM Cards at the factory, to writing backdoors into industry standards, to putting up fake cell towers that scoop up all the cell data in a geographic area. Plus many more.