Published in Mobiles

CIA hacked iPhone a year before its release

by on10 March 2015


Trivial security

Apple's iPhone encryption system was so easy, the CIA and FBI had cracked it a year before the shiny toy hit the shops. 

According to the latest Snowden documents, an secret annual gathering of spooks known as the "Jamboree" announced that Apple's encryptian had been hacked since 2006, a year before the first iPhone was released.

According to the documents, the spies have been looking at physical and non-invasive methods of cracking iPhone and iPad security, targeting the essential security keys used to encrypt data store on the Apple devices. The ultimate goal was to decrypt Apple's firmware which would allow them to penetrate the devices and surreptitiously plant malware on the phones and tablets without the user's knowledge.

The CIA also claims to have developed a poisoned version of Xcode, the software development tool used by app developers to create the apps sold through Apple's App Store.

The CIA also successfully modified the OS X updater which allowed them to intercept the update mechanism on Apple's Mac laptops and desktops to install a version of the updated Mac OS X with a keylogger installed.

Basically this means that if you own Apple gear, or installed an Apple App, the CIA totally owns you – still you get the security you pay for... oh. The total compromise of Apple's security was presented to CIA agents by researchers from Sandia National Laboratories which is owned by Lockheed Martin.

Needless to say Apple is not commenting on this story.

Last modified on 10 March 2015
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