Russia claims Apple helps US spy on 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.

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.

30 Comments

iqatedo 1811 comments · 21 Years

About 1 year ago

...and Ukraine invaded Russia on 24th February 2022...

jrfunk 15 comments · 9 Years

Totally possible! We would never know! Like Apple gonna admit to something like that? 🧐

chutzpah 392 comments · 1 Year

So mean of the USA! Bombing peaceful neighbouring countries is much more polite.

joogabah 139 comments · 14 Years

chutzpah said:

So mean of the USA! Bombing peaceful neighbouring countries is much more polite.

No hypocrisy there at all. America never bombs other countries or invades and topples other governments, even on false pretexts. And America had nothing to do with Ukraine's 2014 coup either. And it didn't state explicitly its plan to balkanize Russia as a prelude to war with China which it can't compete against.

georgie01 437 comments · 8 Years

joogabah said:

No hypocrisy there at all. America never bombs other countries or invades and topples other governments, even on false pretexts. And America had nothing to do with Ukraine's 2014 coup either. And it didn't state explicitly its plan to balkanize Russia as a prelude to war with China which it can't compete against.

Yes, long gone are the days when we could point the finger at other ‘evil’ countries as if the US and the West are much different. There was a time when the US was impressive, but we’re just standing on those past successes thinking we can redefine obvious truths and be successful when in reality we’re on a downward spiral. We need to fix ourselves before complaining about Russia.