Recently a barrage of highly confidential documents were leaked online which revealed that the NSA has backdoors that it can implement in products from a number of major technology companies, including but not limited to Samsung, Cisco and Juniper Networks. Then word broke about a backdoor called DROPOUTJEEP which apparently lets the NSA tap into an iPhone. In a statement provided to AllThingsD, Cupertino says that it has “never worked with the NSA to create a backdoor in any of our products, including iPhone.” The company also claims that it has been unaware of this NSA program that is supposedly targeting its smartphone, one of the most popular mobile devices on this planet.
For those who don’t know what DROPOUTJEEP does, its basically a software which when installed on an iPhone provides signal intelligence. This would enable the agency to retrieve files or even push files to the iPhone, extract text messages, emails, contact lists, find out the iPhone’s location and even turn on the camera and microphone. This isn’t the first time that Apple has been named in leaked NSA documents, the company was also named in the PRISM documents leaked by Edward Snowden. Apple reiterates its commitment to “defend our customers from security attacks, regardless of who’s behind them.”