The Federal Security Service of Russia said last Tuesday of this week that it has discovered that the NSA, the National Security Agency of the United States, uses previously unknown malware to exploit alleged backdoor vulnerabilities present in iPhones, Apple’s smartphones.
The Russian Federal Security Service, better known by its initials, FSB, is the main heir to what was once the famous Soviet KGB. According to his version, thousands of iPhones have been allegedly infected with the malware that is supposed to have been developed by the NSA, including units owned by people living in Russia. The FSB has also pointed out that among the affected smartphones are units belonging to foreign diplomats based in Russia and other countries that were part of the Soviet Union from Israel, Syria, China and NATO members.
The FSB has said in a statement that it “has discovered an intelligence action by the US special services using Apple mobile devices” and that the existence of the backdoors and the corresponding malware derives from a collaboration between Apple and the NSA. For now, neither the US security agency nor the giant of the bitten apple have published a response or a statement in this regard.
Alleged backdoor vulnerabilities in iPhones have been exploited by the NSA for the purpose of covert data collection. The Russian Foreign Minister has commented on the FSB’s alleged discovery that “US intelligence services have been using IT corporations for decades to collect large-scale data from Internet users without their knowledge.”
At this point, we find ourselves in a paradoxical situation, and that is that on the one hand Russia’s credibility is in tatters due to its invasion of Ukraine, while on the other what has been denounced by the FSB is a scenario that many imagine as plausible. Who lies here? Whatever the truth, the important thing to keep in mind is that neither Russia nor the United States have an exemplary resume in regards to not carrying out spying and mass tracking programs by taking advantage of back doors, regardless of whether or not such back doors have been intentionally set up.
Reuters, which is one of the media outlets that have collected the FSB’s complaint about the alleged backdoors present in iPhones and that are being exploited with malware by the NSA, has referred to the 2022 National Cyber Power Index carried out by the Belfer Center at Harvard University, which has pointed to the United States as the world’s leading cyber power in terms of intent and capability, with China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Australia ranking next.
