Reacting to a recent report from Der Spiegel, Apple said it has never worked with the NSA to create any sort of backdoor entry for iPhone monitoring. The report claimed the NSA has the ability to access Apple’s iPhones through a secret spyware program named DROPOUTJEEP. According to alleged NSA documents, data could be downloaded or uploaded from an iPhone, while messages, voicemails, the device’s address book, microphone, camera, and location can all be accessed without the user noticing.
In a statement to TechCrunch, Apple said: “Apple has never worked with the NSA to create a backdoor in any of our products, including iPhone. Additionally, we have been unaware of this alleged NSA program targeting our products. We care deeply about our customers’ privacy and security.
Our team is continuously working to make our products even more secure, and we make it easy for customers to keep their software up to date with the latest advancements. Whenever we hear about attempts to undermine Apple’s industry-leading security, we thoroughly investigate and take appropriate steps to protect our customers. We will continue to use our resources to stay ahead of malicious hackers and defend our customers from security attacks, regardless of who’s behind them.” The initial report notes the program was still being developed at the beginning of 2008.
