WIGGLE ROOM ALERT: Apple might have worked with government contractors, just not the NSA directly.
"Additionally, we have been unaware of this alleged NSA program targeting our products. We care deeply about our customers’ privacy and security."
WIGGLE ROOM ALERT: They could very well be unaware of this program -- but aware of another program that hasn't been disclosed yet.
For more on sneaky talk, read this fantastic Atlantic piece that dissects deliberately misleading statements by NSA officials: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/12/how-amer...
One key strategy they've had: they consistently deny specific programs, as opposed to general actions.
Not saying that they necessarily are. Based on what I've read about the NSA I think it's very plausible that the NSA both has a backdoor from Apple, one from the baseband software (http://www.osnews.com/story/27416/The_second_operating_syste...), as well as a several hacks they've developed on their own. Their strategy is not a single path but rather as many attack vectors as possible.
The NSA exploited a bug in the iPhone in the same way that the jailbreak community has been doing since the iPhone came out in 2007. The only difference is that the NSA installed malware where as the jailbreak apps install Cydia.
Remember jailbreakme.com? That is a browser based root vulnerability. Find an exploit in the iPhone's mail, sms, browser, or any other app, and you could too install malware. Of course this is not easy with the security of the iPhone, but with NSA like resources there is no such thing as bulletproof security.
For example, iPhone 3GS released in 2009 can be jailbroken with 2010-era latest iOS 4: http://www.iclarified.com/jailbreak/iphone3gs/mac.php?firmwa...
I don't think you even need baseband access to do all the spying. I think all of that can be done on a jailbreak.
The document also doesn't claim this success remotely (only "A remote installation capability will be pursued for a future release", which really gives no clue as to how possible that was or is). We've always known that pretty much any mobile device can be vulnerable with physical access (that's what "jailbreaking" you phone is doing).
Apple most likely wouldn't work directly with the NSA but with an entity like the FBI. The contract wouldn't be with the FBI but with a company also contracted out to do some of the work like Booz Allen Hamilton.
I'm started to wonder who "we" actually means in these responses as well. Is this the stock-holder we, the CEO we, or we as in employees of Apple as a whole. I suspect it is not the latter one.
We still don't know the point of entry for this malware and I have no more reason to suspect it is done by the shipping carriers than I have reason suspect the hardware makers themselves.
Many believed that Google was doing the NSA's bidding. Many others felt that only the polar opposite could be true: That Google rejected the NSA's pleas and thus the data couldn't be seen.
It seems to have turned out that fact was somewhere in between -- Google was an involuntary partner, but the NSA could monitor virtually all of their data via the data center to data center links.
The same thing could be happening at Apple (or any business): They have all the best intentions in the world and want to build the most secure product they can, but there is a extrajudicial foe that answers to essentially no one.
Of course this is all talking about Google as a corporation voluntarily doing something. Was someone in Google (or Apple or any other company) working on behalf of the NSA? There was early debates about whether that could even be legal, but at this point it seems that "anything goes" is the pattern, so possibly.
It's sorta telling to me that Google decided to go encryption on all intra-data after Snowden. No doubt they would have been briefed by agencies that they cooperate with about what the exposures would be.
It's more likely that whatever chipsets common across smartphones or routers is the point of exploit. So the NSA and Samsung or whomever have to have a private agreement. Apple/Google don't have a need to know, but you think a few engineers might be curious.
"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."
Not that it will convince anyone around here, but at least they can be called liars if any evidence did turn up.