Russia’s FSB, its security service heir to the KGB and nowadays comparable in mission-set to the FBI, claims that Russian iPhones are being hacked by the NSA in cooperation with Apple,reports Gizmodo. iPhones are reputed as more secure than other phones because new updates are pushed to all users with a compatible device, regardless of phone provider or location.
Apple and the Federal government have been at odds over creating backdoors for law enforcement and two-way encryption. In several terrorist attacks or mass shootings over the years, Apple has refused to help law enforcement unlock phones beyond handing over the cloud data it possessed. Creating backdoors to Apple’s encrypted software, while useful to solve immediate crimes, could lead to abuses of power at the hands of the government or an exploitation of that opening by bad actors.
Apple has been aggressively marketing its devices as privacy-friendly, especially compared to its competitor Google whose data was the backbone of the FBI’s January 6 investigation. Apple has denied the Russian charge, but it could have justified this cooperation as one of “national security” rather than law enforcement. The definition of “hacking” is also uncertain in this case: did Apple hand over data that these Russian persons voluntarily stored with them in an unencrypted way?
Any public statement by the government of Russia says NOTHING about what Apple, the NSA, etc are actually doing. It isn’t even a reliable of indication of what the Russian government believes.
Note: I could be convinced Apple is actively working with the NSA. I could be convinced Apple is actively working against the NSA. I just can’t be convinced the Russian government is a remotely reliable source.
they support slave and child labor. they choose profits over the American people safety. Apple is an arm of the CCCP.