Tech giant
denies knowledge of DropoutJeep tool to retrieve information and insists it
'cares deeply about customers' privacy'
theguardian.com,
Dominic Rushe in New York, Tuesday 31 December 2013
 |
| A man poses for a photo in front of the Apple store on 5th Avenue in New York. |
Apple said:
'We have never worked with the NSA to create a back door in any of our
products, including iPhone.' Photograph: Carlo Allegri/reuters
Apple has
denied any knowledge of a National Security Agency tool to hack into iPhones
after newly-released documents showed the tech giant’s bestselling phone was
targeted by the spying agency.
Documents
released Monday showed the NSA had worked on software that would allow it to
remotely retrieve virtually all the information on an iPhone including text
messages, photos, contacts, location, voice mail and live calls.
The
software, DropoutJeep, was first disclosed by Der Spiegel and security researcher
Jacob Appelbaum. The NSA slides are dated 2008, a year after the first iPhone
was launched.
In a
statement, Apple said: “Apple has never worked with the NSA to create a back
door in any of our products, including iPhone. Additionally, we have been
unaware of this alleged NSA program targeting our products. We care deeply
about our customers’ privacy and security. Our team is continuously working to
make our products even more secure, and we make it easy for customers to keep
their software up to date with the latest advancements.
“Whenever
we hear about attempts to undermine Apple’s industry-leading security, we
thoroughly investigate and take appropriate steps to protect our customers. We
will continue to use our resources to stay ahead of malicious hackers and
defend our customers from security attacks, regardless of who’s behind them.”
According
to the slides, DropoutJeep required “close access methods” in order to be
installed on an iPhone, meaning NSA agents would need physical access to the
device. However, the slide notes: “A remote installation capability will be
pursued for future use.”
The slides
mention iOS5, an iPhone operating system that was launched in June 2011 and
updated by iOS6 in September 2012. It is not clear whether the NSA managed to
develop the ability to perform remote installation. Given that Apple sold 250m
iPhones in its first five years, large scale implementation of DropoutJeep
seems unlikely by close access methods.
The spyware
is one of the tools employed by the NSA's ANT (Advanced or Access Network
Technology) division to gain backdoor access to various electronic devices.
According to Applebaum, the NSA claims a 100% success rate on installation of
the program.
Apple,
along with its peers, has consistently denied working with the NSA unless it
has been legally compelled to do so. The NSA documents, first obtained by
whistleblower Edward Snowden, have revealed that the NSA has developed the
capability to hack other companies, including Google and Yahoo, without their
knowledge.
The slide
is dated four years before the NSA included Apple in its Prism monitoring
program. Apple was the last of the big tech companies to be included in the
program, designed to ease data collection for the NSA. Microsoft, by contrast,
joined the scheme in 2007, according to the NSA’s slides.
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