Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on Thursday accused the United States of hacking into thousands of iPhones in an attempt to spy.

Edited by | Alexander Yaxinia

Russia News Section

2 June 2023 - Moscow

   The Russian Federal Security Service stated that several thousand Apple phones were infected with this malware, including phones of users inside Russia.

Neither Apple nor the US National Security Agency have yet responded to the allegations

The Russian service added that the targeting included the phones of foreign diplomats based in Russia and countries that were part of the former Soviet Union, including countries that are currently members of NATO, the Israeli occupation, Syria and China.

The Russian Security Service said in a statement: "The Russian Federal Security Service revealed that prominent American security services carried out intelligence moves using Apple phones."

The 2022 Cyber Power Index issued by the Belfer Center at Harvard University showed that the United States is the world's largest cyber power in terms of accuracy and capabilities, followed by China, Russia, Britain, and Australia.

The Russian service said the plot showed "close cooperation" between Apple and the National Security Agency, the US agency responsible for encryption and intelligence and security communications.

Both the Kremlin and the Russian Defense Ministry have noted the importance of the issue.

"The hidden data was collected through vulnerabilities in the software of US-made phones," the ministry said in a statement. The ministry added: "US intelligence services have been using information technology companies for decades to collect data from Internet users on a large scale without their knowledge."

The service stated that the plot was uncovered by a joint effort between its officers and officials of the Federal Guard Service, an agency responsible for securing Russian leaders.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said all officials in the presidential administration were aware that devices such as iPhones were "completely exposed". He added, "Using them for official purposes is unacceptable and prohibited," noting that officials are allowed to use these devices for personal and unofficial purposes.

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