Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on Thursday it had uncovered a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) plot using previously unknown malware to access vulnerabilities in Apple iPhones.
Guy Faulconbridge for Reuters:
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said several thousand Apple phones had been infected, including those of domestic Russian subscribers.
The Russian spy agency also said telephones belonging to foreign diplomats based in Russia and the former Soviet Union, including those from Israel, Syria, China and NATO members, had been targeted.
“The FSB has uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices,” the FSB said in a statement.
The FSB said the plot showed “close cooperation” between Apple and the NSA, the U.S. agency responsible for U.S. cryptographic and communications intelligence and security…
The Russian warning on Apple phones came a few hours before Moscow-based antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab issued a report saying that an undisclosed number of its staffers had had their iPhones compromised in “an extremely complex, professionally targeted cyberattack”.
Kaspersky said spyware, delivered by an invisible message, was installed through vulnerabilities in the iOS operating system and that information from the phone was then transmitted to remote servers.
MacDailyNews Take: If anything screams “ironclad trust,” it’s Russian government information.
See also: Apple halts all product sales in Russia – March 1, 2022
Last July, Apple introduced a groundbreaking security capability – Lockdown Mode – that offers specialized additional protection to users who may be at risk of highly targeted cyberattacks from private companies developing state-sponsored mercenary spyware. Apple also provded details of its $10 million grant to bolster research exposing such threats.
Lockdown Mode is an optional, extreme protection that’s designed for the very few individuals who, because of who they are or what they do, might be personally targeted by some of the most sophisticated digital threats. Most people are never targeted by attacks of this nature.
When Lockdown Mode is enabled, your device won’t function like it typically does. To reduce the attack surface that potentially could be exploited by highly targeted mercenary spyware, certain apps, websites, and features are strictly limited for security and some experiences might not be available at all.
Lockdown Mode is available in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura.
More info here.
Last December, Apple also delivered end-to-end encryption to iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes, and more.
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