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The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., January 19, 2023. /Xinhua
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on Thursday said it had uncovered a surveillance operation by American intelligence agencies carried out on thousands of Apple devices used by Russian citizens and foreign diplomats working in the country.
The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) used previously unknown malware to access particular vulnerabilities "provided by the manufacturer" and caused "anomalies" in the operations of some Apple Phones, the FSB said in a statement.
Russian citizens were not the only ones targeted. "Foreign phone numbers and subscribers that use SIM cards registered with diplomatic missions and embassies inside Russia, including countries from the NATO bloc and the post-Soviet space, as well Israel, Syria and China," the agency was quoted as saying by Russia Today.
The FSB said the discovery is another proof of the close relationship between Apple and the U.S. intelligence community, adding that "the declared policy of ensuring the privacy of personal data of Apple users has nothing to do with reality."
"The hidden data collection was carried out through software vulnerabilities in U.S.-made mobile phones," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"The U.S. intelligence services have been using IT corporations for decades in order to collect large-scale data of internet users without their knowledge," the ministry said.
There is no comment from Apple or the NSA yet.
(With input from agencies)
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Copyright © 2023 CGTN. 京ICP备16065310号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466