Russia says U.S. accessed thousands of Apple phones in spy plot

reuters.com

29 points·campuscodi··8 comments

I wonder if this is Russia’s attempt to retaliate against the NSA describing FSB’s Snake malware. One notable difference is that the NSA described in a lot of detail exactly why it’s attributed to Russia and the technical details of the malware and how to protect yourself.

https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Press-Releases-Statements/Pre...

https://media.defense.gov/2023/May/09/2003218554/-1/-1/0/JOI...

So this claim probably goes somewhere near the category of known unknowns.

There is precedent for Apple actively helping US spies:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/08/apple...

https://tidbits.com/2020/08/17/the-case-of-the-top-secret-ip...

Summary: Apple apparently helped Bechtel (a nuclear security contractor contracted to USG) build a one-off spy device out of an iPod in 2005 -- Bechtel provided hardware mod, Apple provided technical support for developers adding a buried menu item to iPod software to enable/disable the device, suggested to possibly be a Geiger counter and also advised where the data might be inconspicuously stored on the hdd.

> Bechtel (a nuclear security contractor contracted to USG)

It is funny how this company makes everything, from highways to nuclear reactors.

Ah, Bechtel, the company which comes in every newly aquired American colony to suck the victim's government money.

Kaspersky reported a targeted attack on iPhones of their senior management today as well [0]

[0] https://usa.kaspersky.com/blog/triangulation-attack-on-ios/2...

Non-paywall: https://archive.ph/BrXyi

Or read the FSB press release: http://www.fsb.ru/fsb/press/message/single.htm%21id%3D104397...

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