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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe CIA Campaign to Steal Apple's Secrets
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/10/ispy-cia-campaign-steal-apples-secrets/RESEARCHERS WORKING with the Central Intelligence Agency have conducted a multi-year, sustained effort to break the security of Apples iPhones and iPads, according to top-secret documents obtained by The Intercept.
The security researchers presented their latest tactics and achievements at a secret annual gathering, called the Jamboree, where attendees discussed strategies for exploiting security flaws in household and commercial electronics. The conferences have spanned nearly a decade, with the first CIA-sponsored meeting taking place a year before the first iPhone was released.
By targeting essential security keys used to encrypt data stored on Apples devices, the researchers have sought to thwart the companys attempts to provide mobile security to hundreds of millions of Apple customers across the globe. Studying both physical and non-invasive techniques, U.S. government-sponsored research has been aimed at discovering ways to decrypt and ultimately penetrate Apples encrypted firmware. This could enable spies to plant malicious code on Apple devices and seek out potential vulnerabilities in other parts of the iPhone and iPad currently masked by encryption.
The CIA declined to comment for this story.
The security researchers also claimed they had created a modified version of Apples proprietary software development tool, Xcode, which could sneak surveillance backdoors into any apps or programs created using the tool. Xcode, which is distributed by Apple to hundreds of thousands of developers, is used to create apps that are sold through Apples App Store.
The security researchers presented their latest tactics and achievements at a secret annual gathering, called the Jamboree, where attendees discussed strategies for exploiting security flaws in household and commercial electronics. The conferences have spanned nearly a decade, with the first CIA-sponsored meeting taking place a year before the first iPhone was released.
By targeting essential security keys used to encrypt data stored on Apples devices, the researchers have sought to thwart the companys attempts to provide mobile security to hundreds of millions of Apple customers across the globe. Studying both physical and non-invasive techniques, U.S. government-sponsored research has been aimed at discovering ways to decrypt and ultimately penetrate Apples encrypted firmware. This could enable spies to plant malicious code on Apple devices and seek out potential vulnerabilities in other parts of the iPhone and iPad currently masked by encryption.
The CIA declined to comment for this story.
The security researchers also claimed they had created a modified version of Apples proprietary software development tool, Xcode, which could sneak surveillance backdoors into any apps or programs created using the tool. Xcode, which is distributed by Apple to hundreds of thousands of developers, is used to create apps that are sold through Apples App Store.
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The CIA Campaign to Steal Apple's Secrets (Original Post)
Luminous Animal
Mar 2015
OP
WillyT
(72,631 posts)1. K & R !!!
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)2. Kick.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)3. Link to the top secret CIA documents.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)4. Well since China's already got them, why not just steal them from China?
Of course, China's repeated hacks and data theft from Apple isn't a 'sexy' enough story for our intrepid writers at the Intercept
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)5. As usual, the *real* story comes out a couple days later
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)6. Pulitzer Prize vs a tweet. Um, yeah. No.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)7. Thomas Friedman has three of them, and he also serves on the board
you want to tell me *he's* never wrong?
Scahill's reaction to that tweet was interesting, for something that supposedly doesn't mean something...
Or are you trying to tell me that Stefan Esser doesn't know his subject matter?
And aren't you supposed to be reading those links YOU requested from ME, and which I lovingly laid out for you? When you're done with those, I have plenty more