Russia’s main security service accused a US intelligence agency of hacking several thousand iPhones, including devices belonging to Russian nationals and others linked to diplomatic missions and embassies in the country.
The statement from Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, was scant on details and didn’t identify which US intelligence agency was behind the alleged attacks. The Russian security agency claimed that Apple Inc., the maker of iPhone, works closely with US intelligence, particularly the National Security Agency. The attacks were linked to SIM cards registered with Russia-based diplomats for NATO countries, Israel and China, according to the statement.
A spokesperson for Apple didn’t comment on whether any Russian iPhones were breached. But the spokesperson said the company hadn’t helped any government breach iPhones, as the FSB suggested, and “never will.” Apple halted product sales in Russia following that country’s invasion of Ukraine, but iPhones are still widely available via parallel import schemes.
A representative for the NSA declined to comment. Spokespeople for the Chinese and Israeli embassies in Washington didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Separately, the Moscow-based cybersecurity company Kaspersky published a blog post saying iPhones belonging to several dozen of its employees had been hacked, and it included technical details of how the operation allegedly worked. The hack went undetected for years, according to the timeline on the blog post. Kaspersky didn’t identify who it believed was behind the attack, which it described as a “extremely complex, professional targeted cyberattack.”
In an email, a Kaspersky spokesman said the hacking campaign was discovered at the beginning of the year. Russian authorities have indicated the attacks are linked, he said, and a Kaspersky employee tweeted that the FSB’s and Kaspersky’s statements were related. Kaspersky said the spyware worked on an older version of Apple’s operating system.
It wasn’t possible to confirm the allegations, which were made at a time of exceptionally fraught relations between the US and Russia over the ongoing war in Ukraine. The US is providing Ukraine with intelligence support and military hardware but is at pains to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia. In addition, just last month, the US Department of Justice announced that it had disrupted a years-long hacking campaign carried out by an infamous FSB unit called “Turla.” The malware, called “Snake,” allegedly impacted over 50 countries and was used by Russian hackers for more than 20 years, according to the US authorities.