NSA: All your apples belong to us | The Compost Bin | Forums

I thought iOS was the most secure kid on the block, oh that frisky NSA

Among the first documents leaked by onetime government contractor Edward Snowden was a slide listing companies the National Security Agency tapped into to help them conduct their secret PRISM spying program. Not surprisingly, the list is rich with giant tech firms: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook — and Apple. According to the slide, the NSA broke into Apple’s data in October 2012.

A month ago, Snowden revealed new documents showing the NSA had conducted espionage on iPhones with a program dubbed DROPOUT JEEP, which allowed the agency access to text messages, voicemails and other personal data. (Video regarding that program appears below.)

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Last week, Apple announced that it had discovered a majority security flaw in its OS operating system. The flaw, called “Gotofail,” allowed hackers or other actors — including spies — to access to theoretically secure data transmitted through wireless connections or along a shared network. Such data included that sent through SSL, a method employed by websites to protect credit card numbers and other personal information when establishing a connection between a customer and a merchant’s point of sale.

The flaw was a simple one, a mistake in a line of code. Just an “if” clause, nested deep within lines of code.

Over the weekend, coding experts examined the timeline of the NSA’s penetration of Apple’s data and the date the flaw first emerged. They made a curious discovery: that the flaw appeared in Apple’s code just a month before the NSA internally reported success in hacking Apple. Fortune’s Phillip Elmer-DeWitt reports:

* Sept. 24, 2012: iOS 6.0 is released

* Oct. 2012: Apple is added to the NSA’s list of penetrated servers

* Dec. 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013: Apple receives 4,000 to 5,000 requests about 9,000 to

10,000 accounts and devices. (Per “Apple’s Commitment to Customer Privacy“.)

One coder, Dancing Fireball‘s John Gruber, got down to the nitty gritty. Taking great pains to note the evidence was circumstantial, he nevertheless drew attention to the following facts. 1) The flaw first emerged in iOS 6.0, 2) iOS 6.0 was released publicly on Sept. 24, 2012, and 3) Snowden’s NSA slide has the agency tapping into Apple’s customers a month later.

http://www.rawstory......sa-spying/

This is to protect us from terrorists right?