Your iPhone Is Watching You: Documents Reveal That NSA Has Total Access to Apple Phones

Dec 31, 2013 11:54 AM EST | Jordan Ecarma

If you're considering making the big switch to an iPhone, you might want to reconsider.

Leaked documents have revealed that the National Security Agency has total access to iPhones, including text messages and contact lists, according to tech website The Daily Dot.

Citing security researcher Jacob Appelbaum and German news magazine Der Spiegel, The Daily Dot reported that virtually "every communication" sent through an Apple iPhone can be accessed by the government.

The NSA program reportedly responsible for the snooping goes by the name "DROPOUTJEEP" and works through a software implant in the iPhone operating system.

Agency officials can see and hear just about anything through DROPOUTJEEP, which allows the NSA "to intercept SMS messages, access contact lists, locate a phone using cell tower data and even activate the device's microphone and camera," according to The Daily Dot.

The agency claims a 100 percent "success rate" for implanting iOS devices with the DROPOUTJEEP spyware.

"All communications with the implant will be covert and encrypted," the documents read. The NSA can send data requests that are automatically accepted by the iPhone, according to a flow chart in the documents.

The leaked papers suggest two options for the software installation: physical access to the devices or remotely exploiting them. The possibilities beg the question--was Apple in on the plot all along?

"Either [the NSA] have a huge collection of exploits that work against Apple products, meaning they are hoarding information about critical systems that American companies produce, and sabotaging them, or Apple sabotaged it themselves," Appelbaum said at the Chaos Communication Conference in Hamburg, Germany. 

"Do you think Apple helped them with that?" Appelbaum asked. "I hope Apple will clarify that."

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