iPhone has secret spyware to spy on users, according to latest from Snowden

According to the latest information out of Russia, Edward Snowden refuses to use an Apple iPhone because he knows that software is installed at the factory which enables security agencies to tap into the phone to gather information on the user. Essentially Snowden has said through a third party that there is a back door into iOS.

Anatoly Kucherena advised the Russian news agency RIA Novosti that, “Edward never uses an iPhone, he's got a simple phone.” He went on to state that “The iPhone has special software (according to Edward Snowden) that can activate itself without the owner having to press a button and gather information about him, that’s why on security grounds he refused to have this phone."

Snowden's lawyer pointed out that the iPhone spyware software can be activated remotely with the intent to watch the user.

Security Improvements With iOS 8

Apple has been active working on making the iPhone more difficult to access. The latest iOS 8 contained a number of measures to ensure that even if the phone was accessed, the data contained therein could not be read by an outside party or security service.

It is unclear what version or versions of iOS are affected by the spyware installation.

iPhone Unique Identifiers Used To Track Phone Users

It is known through earlier Snowden file leaks that the intelligence agencies have been actively using unique identifiers inside iPhones known as UDIDs to identify individual phones and track the owners of each iPhone. iOS 7 changed to remove the user of unique identifiers within the Apple mobile operating system however advertising is still able to track users individually using a unique identifier.

Companies Call For New Laws To Protect Citizens From Government

Companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and Google have called for new laws around the world to protect citizens from warrentless searches of digital data and the mass surveillance of its population. However, given that the laws are created by the governments themselves it is difficult to see how such laws would ever be tightened up.

Encrypted Traffic Grows Steadily Following Revelations

One outcome from the disclosures about warrantless searches and data collection on a mass scale has been the uptick in the use of encrypted communication and secure web site access via the http protocol to prevent mass data collection. There has been a marked jump in users seeking to protect themselves and companies like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have sought to offer secure web page access to offer enhanced security after revelations that many of their communications between web servers were being intercepted.