Russia has accused US intelligence services of hacking thousands of iPhones used by Russian citizens and foreign diplomats residing in the country.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia disclosed on Thursday that it discovered traces of an “intelligence action” that had breached the phones of Russians and diplomats from Israel, Syria, China, and NATO member countries.
Overview
In a statement, the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, stated that several thousand Apple mobile devices had been infected, including those of domestic Russian users and foreign diplomats based in Russia and the former Soviet Union. “The FSB has uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices,” the FSB stated.
There was reportedly “close cooperation” between tech giant Apple and the National Security Agency (NSA), the US agency in charge of cryptographic and communications intelligence and security. However, the FSB provided no evidence that Apple assisted or was aware of the spying attempt.
Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab claimed that the operation affected the devices of dozens of Kaspersky Lab personnel. It has offices worldwide, but is headquartered in Moscow; nonetheless, it did not identify the country or entity responsible for the attack.
#Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday it had uncovered an #American espionage operation that compromised thousands of #iPhones using sophisticated surveillance software.https://t.co/RCaAfPYIaq
— Khaleej Times (@khaleejtimes) June 2, 2023
Kaspersky CEO Eugene Kaspersky confirmed that many of his employees’ phones were hacked during the operation, which his company described as “an extremely complex, professionally targeted cyberattack,” which targetted workers in “top and middle management.”
“We’re confident that Kaspersky was not the main target of this cyberattack. The coming days will bring more clarity and further details on the worldwide proliferation of this spyware,” the CEO said.
In a blog post, he further clarified that the oldest malware traces it found were from 2019. “As of the time of writing in June 2023, the attack is still ongoing,” the company stated.
Kaspersky said he could not respond to Moscow’s allegations that Americans were responsible for the hacking. “It’s very hard to attribute anything to anyone,” he said.
In a statement, Apple refused to comment on whether iPhones in Russia had been compromised although it did deny collaborating with authorities to breach its devices. “We have never worked with any government to insert a backdoor into any Apple product and never will,” the company stated.
UPDATE 4-Russia says US hacked thousands of #Apple phones in spy plot https://t.co/6xasayoatH Russia says US #NSA penetrated Apple phones in #Russia. Apple, White House do not immediately respond to requests for comment. #Kaspersky says senior employees' iPhones were compromised pic.twitter.com/gmx52heBaA
— Venik (@venik44) June 2, 2023
Russia’s Allegations
The Kremlin and Russia’s Foreign Ministry stressed the seriousness of the issue. Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated, “The hidden data collection was carried out through software vulnerabilities in the US-made mobile phones.” “The US intelligence services have been using IT corporations for decades in order to collect large-scale data of Internet users without their knowledge,” the ministry added.
Officials in Russia said the breach was uncovered due to a collaborative investigation by FSB personnel and those from the Federal Guards Service (FSO), a powerful agency that handled the Kremlin’s bodyguard and was once the KGB’s Ninth Directorate.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that all personnel in the presidential administration know that certain devices, such as iPhones, are “absolutely transparent.”
Intensifying Russian and US Cyber Attacks
According to Harvard University’s Belfer Centre Cyber 2022 Power Index, the US is the world’s top cyber power regarding intent and capacity, followed by China, Russia, the UK, and Australia.
The alleged cyber-espionage campaign comes when ties between Russia and the US are extremely strained due to Moscow’s war with Kyiv.
The US Department of Justice said it disrupted the FSB’s two-decade-long malware campaign against targets in more than 50 countries last month. Security experts identified the group of hackers as “Turla,” and they are known to use malware known as “Snake.”
Turla, which the FBI targeted, is one of Russia’s finest cyberspy organisations, and it is tied to significant breaches of US military networks in the mid-to-late 1990s and a 2008 attack on US Central Command.
According to local media, the Kremlin warned personnel engaged in organising Russia’s presidential election in 2024 not to use iPhones due to concerns that the devices might be exposed to infiltration by Western intelligence agencies.