Researchers with ties to the CIA have been working for years to crack the security on iPhones and iPads, The Intercept reports. The researchers presented their latest achievements at the “Jamboree,” a secret annual gathering where attendees swap strategies for breaking into commercial and household electronics.
Hackers discussed attempts to crack the security keys used to encrypt data on Apple devices, as well as efforts to modify the OS X updater and Apple’s proprietary software development tool, Xcode, to insert malicious code onto Apple devices. If successful, these breaches would allow hackers to intercept messages, steal passwords and even possibly “force all iOS applications to send embedded data to a listening post.”
Documents from 2010 to 2012 given to The Intercept by Edward Snowden note that researchers were “particularly intent” on extracting encryption keys for Apple products, but “do not address how successful the targeting of Apple’s encryption mechanisms have been, nor do they provide any detail about the specific use of such exploits by U.S.
intelligence.” Neither the CIA nor Apple commented on the story, but Apple CEO Tim Cook has long touted privacy as a core value and has previously criticized the actions of U.S. intelligence agencies and law enforcement on such matters.
