The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) planned to access specifically created so-called backdoor vulnerabilities in Apple phones using previously undiscovered malware, according to a statement released by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on Thursday.
Several thousand Apple phones, including those of domestic Russian subscribers, were infected, according to the FSB, the principal successor to the Soviet-era KGB.
Email requests for comment were not immediately answered by Apple or the NSA.
The telephones of foreign diplomats stationed in Russia and the former Soviet Union, including those from China, Israel, Syria, and NATO countries, were also reportedly targeted, according to the Russian spy service.
The FSB released a statement saying that it has “uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices.”
According to Harvard University’s Belfer Center Cyber 2022 Power Index, the United States is the top cyber power in the world in terms of intent and capacity, followed by China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
America Snooping?
According to the FSB, the plot demonstrated “close cooperation” between Apple and the NSA the American agency in charge of cryptographic and communications security and intelligence.
The seriousness of the situation was highlighted by the Kremlin and the Russian foreign ministry.
According to a statement from Russia’s foreign ministry, “the hidden data collection was carried out through software vulnerabilities in mobile phones made in the United States.”
According to the ministry, “the U.S. intelligence services have been using IT corporations for decades to collect massive amounts of data on Internet users without their knowledge.”
The Federal Guards Service (FSO), a formidable organization that oversees the Kremlin guards and was formerly the KGB’s Ninth Directorate, and the FSB said they worked together to unearth the conspiracy.
Officials in Russia have long questioned the security of American technology, according to Western spies who claim that Russia has built a highly sophisticated domestic surveillance infrastructure.
All members of the presidential administration are aware that devices like iPhones are “absolutely transparent,” according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Peskov said, “Using them for official purposes is unacceptable and prohibited,” adding that officials were free to communicate privately and outside of work on iPhones.
MOBILE SPYWARE
Putin has consistently claimed he doesn’t own a smartphone, but the Kremlin has claimed the former KGB agent occasionally uses the internet.
A few hours prior to the Moscow-based antivirus company Kaspersky Lab published a report claiming that an unspecified number of its employees had their iPhones penetrated in “an extremely complex, professionally targeted cyberattack,” Russia issued a warning on Apple phones.
According to Kaspersky, spyware was installed using flaws in the iOS operating system and then information from the phone was sent to distant servers via an invisible message.
In a technical report that it published, Kaspersky described how it claimed the malicious software operated and said the company’s “top and middle management” were the targets of the digital espionage campaign.
Emails and phone calls requesting comments regarding the timeliness of the report and if it was connected to the FSB notice were not immediately answered by the company.
The Kremlin warned individuals working on the Russian presidential election preparations earlier this year to stop using Apple iPhones due to worries that the devices are susceptible to Western espionage services, according to the Kommersant newspaper.
