Apple Says It Didn't Create an iPhone Backdoor for the NSA, Was Unaware Its Products Were Targeted

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Posted December 31, 2013 at 6:22pm by iClarified

Apple has issued an official statement on the revelation that the NSA has or had a backdoor to access nearly everything on the iPhone.

Yesterday we posted that about a secret NSA software implant called 'DROPOUTJEEP' which allowed the agency access to features including: remotely push/pull files from the device, SMS retrieval, contact list retrieval, voicemail, geolocation, hot mic, camera capture, cell tower location, etc.

Jacob "@ioerror" Applebaum suggested that perhaps Apple installed this backdoor at their request.

"Either they have a huge collection of exploits that work against Apple products, meaning that they are hoarding information about critical systems that American companies produce and sabotaging them, or Apple sabotaged it themselves. Not sure which one it is. I'd like to believe that since Apple didn't join the PRISM program until after Steve Jobs died, that maybe it's just that they write shitty software. We know that's true."

Apple has now provided an official statement to TechCrunch saying:

Apple has never worked with the NSA to create a backdoor 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.

The document seen below dates back to 2008. At the time only close access installation was possible; however, the NSA was working on enabling remote installation in the future. It's unclear what the status of the program is now and if the NSA still has these capabilities.

More details can be found in Applebaum's video presentation which can be seen here.

Apple Says It Didn't Create an iPhone Backdoor for the NSA, Was Unaware Its Products Were Targeted

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sH23 - January 2, 2014 at 2:38pm

I don't care if the NSA can push or pull files to and from my device. If they want to view my porn. I just hope they leave some new videos while they're in my device.

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mikhail - January 1, 2014 at 6:49am

For some reason I believe Apple on this one! I don't any company would do this...

gamerscul9870 - January 1, 2014 at 1:50pm

For one thing articles never lies to us here so yeah you have a point.

Myrtle - January 1, 2014 at 2:21am

Privacy is more important now than ever before. We may not be able to hide from the NSA, but we can stop using sites like Facebook and Google. Just think about it. If you care so much about your privacy, if you are outraged by all of the NSA spying, then WHY are you using facebook and google. Those companies are just as bad, if not worse, than the NSA. This is why I advocate using privacy-based sites such as DuckDuckGo, Ravetree, HushMail, etc.

Octopcis - December 31, 2013 at 10:38pm

What now. iPhone 6 with hair DNA scanner? omg revolutionary.

gamerscul9870 - December 31, 2013 at 8:45pm

Wrong way around, iPhone is a American design because it's FROM California. Galaxy is German because it's made in that area and they just make it big for no reason and soon curved screen.

gamerscul9870 - December 31, 2013 at 11:00pm

First off you're not hired by iclarified trying to a spyware targeting at a normal commenter like it's spam you try to clean up, second if you think I am the one to blame, look back at Tony's comments from charts and iphone posts, he does far more and acts like it but ai am not even close to sounding like a wannabe compared to him. I said what I said above b/c this guy think iPhone in a wrong way is why I said that mister iAssume everything.

Heathwill - December 31, 2013 at 7:50pm

Not long ago Obama was quoted as saying that he couldn't use a iPhone for security reasons, now we know what those reasons are.

Quick draw mcgraw - December 31, 2013 at 8:00pm

And yet they gave him a BB, which the NSA has access to also by the way..

Copperhead - January 5, 2014 at 2:47pm

Even the president of the United States gets monitored for national security reasons... Just FYI

gamerscul9870 - December 31, 2013 at 7:43pm

So they took advantage of apples fingerprint scanner, Obama wtf dude, closed Washington Capitol now this?

Heathwill - December 31, 2013 at 6:50pm

I read both articles, clearly this is why the president is not allowed to use an iPhone.

odedoo1 - December 31, 2013 at 6:30pm

Come on that's a total lie if security was so important to Apple there would be no way to jailbreak their devices. The NSA got their foothold everywhere and with everyone.

Mr. Byu - December 31, 2013 at 6:43pm

Come on... jailbreak needs massive assistance on the user's side (attaching the phone to a computer phisically, pressing a button, waiting for a long time). I wouldn't call a system insecure just because of that its defense line can be bypassed under appropriate conditions. I'm not a professional and I might be naive too, but imho being able to hack into iOS without the user's contribution (remotely!) is a completely different thing, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was quite impossible to do.