Apple Outlines How It Will Notify Users Who Have Been Targeted by State-Sponsored Spyware Attacks

[BWhaler]

This is great work Apple, but seriously, we need to talk.

With the quality of your software releases, users are learning not to trust updates, so we don’t update right away. This is not a problem yet, I know the stats are strong, but the mood is shifting.

Security and privacy need the latest software patches. Too many of us are sitting on old version of MacOS because you released Monterey with data corruption issues, e.g. lost pics in messages, severe memory leaks, etc., etc.

“It just works” used to be a usability ethos. It is now a security and privacy one.

 

[svish]

Managing everything through apple id website is the best option. This avoids clicking on links.

 

[jaytv111]

That there is no way that pegusus software will be expanded to add hashes to the CSAM system so that the governments that are already buying this can use that as another tool to spy.

The "injected hashes" stuff is nonsense. CMEC (Center for Missing and Exploited Children) maintains the database, it'll literally take them seconds to look up whether the hash is in the database or not. And then, reports are only made to CMEC and that's it. Apple won't make reports to just anyone. And if you want to say they will change the reporting IP address or whatever, then what's the point, they can only use known hashes so the spies will have to posses the photos anyway, so this is hardly a spy mechanism, it only gives you information you already have.

There are legit issues with the system, the potential for false positives being one issue. But this doesn't warrant making up nonsense and spreading misinformation about it.

 

[Unsupported]

There are legit issues with the system, the potential for false positives being one issue. But this doesn't warrant making up nonsense and spreading misinformation about it.

Unless of course we're talking about Israel. In which case making up nonsense and spreading misinformation is the order of the day. ?

 

[SFjohn]

Well, state regulated/sanctioned anyway.

As for claims about China/Russia, I don't know. State sanctioned hackers in Russia shut down a US oil pipeline that lead to fuel shortage across the East Coast. I don't see anyone here talking about boycotting Russia.

Meanwhile, China is committing genocide. Again, I don't see anyone on these forums calling to boycott China or refusing to buy Apple products assembled in China.

How is China committing genocide?

 

[SpotOnT]

How is China committing genocide?

I was referring to the ongoing Uyghur Genocide, which includes the internment in concentration camps and forced sterilization of an ethnic minority in China.

Think more along the lines of what the US, Australian, etc governments did to their native peoples, rather than what the Nazis did to the Jews...although all of those are correctly defined as genocide.

Wikipedia would be a place to start if you want to read up on it.


Edit: I just double checked the numbers and the Associated Press is now reporting that the Uyghur birthrate has dropped by 83% since 2015. Meanwhile, the Chinese government is moving in tens of millions of Han Chinese into Xinjiang - "the native Uyghur homeland" so to speak - in what appears to be a coordinated attempt to exterminate the Uyghur ethnic group over the next few generations.

 

[ericwn]

" data-source="post: 30644143" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch">

Wow! Good work Apple. I can already tell the year 2022 seems like a great year! Let’s get it.

Finding out one has been a Spyware target sure is a guarantee for a great year.

 

[ericwn]

It's important to boycott Israel, which is responsible for this software, as well:

Despite Abuses of NSO Spyware, Israel Will Lobby U.S. to Defend It

As a new accusation surfaces that NSO’s software may have been used to spy on Palestinians, Israeli officials say it is crucial to national security.

www.nytimes.com

If Apple can stop selling its products in Turkey because of economic concerns, it can certainly stop selling products in Israel for software concerns.

And then they stop selling in China because of the Uighur situation, right?

 

[ericwn]

Are you nervous about CSAM?

They might just appreciate their privacy.

 

[applicious84]

And then they stop selling in China because of the Uighur situation, right?

Maybe. Is China also defending and using and helping distribute spy software to other countries and testing it on Uighurs? I don't the situation in China as much, but if that's the case, then yes.

 

[hans1972]

„small number of devices“ is equal or less than 49,9 %, correct?

I would be surprised if it was more than 10,000 iPhones per year, which would constitute something like <0,001% of iPhones.

 

[Jonas07]

The Genocide Lie: Why Do Israel’s Critics Keep Repeating It? - Algemeiner.com

JNS.org - Last May, while Israel defended itself against 4,500 unprovoked Hamas missile attacks from Gaza, actor Mark Ruffalo accused Israel of genocide. Several weeks later, Ruffalo wisely retracted his tweet, saying the accusation was “not accurate, it’s inflammatory, disrespectful & is being...

www.algemeiner.com

Let’s forget the tons of Palestinian innocent lives and Israelis wishing their dead because an article.

 

[centauratlas]

Serious about security and privacy. Serious enough to take on State players head-on.

While this really only affects a few dozen people globally, it is a signature for what governments and their minions are ready, capable, and willing to do. You can keep pretending that “you have nothing to hide” while your privacy (and many international and Constitutional laws) get whittled away… or you can stand up to this.

And don’t think for a minute that certain social media avenues aren’t part of this… willfully or not.

To really take on state players they should be encrypting everything with on device keys. Every single thing. Here's hoping it happens sometime soon.

 

[centauratlas]

I would be surprised if it was more than 10,000 iPhones per year, which would constitute something like <0,001% of iPhones.

If I was licensing the software from country X (China, Russia, North Korea, Australia, UK, Canada, U.S.A./CIA/NSA etc) I would infect every device possible particularly prior to this announcement and collect as much data as possible and just archive it. Plenty of leverage later. Why do you think the NSA has that huge data center? Archiving everything they can get there hands on. E.g. iCloud backups, Facebook posts etc.

This is why everything should be encrypted on the device with individual private keys. Even if you are doing nothing wrong, eventually that data will leak and privacy is a human right, and critical in a free society. Trusting one set of private keys to Apple or anyone else means we are living on borrowed time.

 

[0924487]

I doubt users in China or the US will be notified by Apple if their home country‘s intelligence agency attacks them.

 

[Unsupported]

Let’s forget the tons of Palestinian innocent lives and Israelis wishing their dead because an article.

 

[ericwn]

Let’s forget the tons of Palestinian innocent lives and Israelis wishing their dead because an article.

I don’t think any one side of that conflict can be regarded as good or bad, enough blood has been shed either way and killers are sitting on each side of those fences.

 

[Philip_S]

As far as I can tell, it is a private company owned by its two co-founders and a private equity firm based out of the UK. It has a close working relationship with the Israel government, but it isn't a front for the Israeli secret service or anything.

NSO is like all the other private defense companies out there (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics etc.). You don't boycott the US federal government and Americans because you don't like the business decisions of Boeing. That just doesn't make any sense.

While I CBF to do it myself, boycotting America in general is the only way an ordinary person or group of ordinary people could do anything to harm most of those companies (for Boeing at least you could refuse to fly with airlines using Boeing aircraft), short of assassinating directors or something. Those companies act as agents of the state and are wholly dependent on the various states that support them, and so countering their activities has to be done by working against the state.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

While I CBF to do it myself, boycotting America in general is the only way an ordinary person or group of ordinary people could do anything to harm most of those companies (for Boeing at least you could refuse to fly with airlines using Boeing aircraft), short of assassinating directors or something. Those companies act as agents of the state and are wholly dependent on the various states that support them, and so countering their activities has to be done by working against the state.

In America, most corporations are beholden to their investors, and who ever they are. If they see that the money train is getting slim, they start getting anxious, and management heads tend to roll if it goes too far. It's become a really weird world...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

While I CBF to do it myself, boycotting America in general is the only way an ordinary person or group of ordinary people could do anything to harm most of those companies (for Boeing at least you could refuse to fly with airlines using Boeing aircraft), short of assassinating directors or something. Those companies act as agents of the state and are wholly dependent on the various states that support them, and so countering their activities has to be done by working against the state.

Funny thing. I had a bunch of friends that I hung around with at the airport. They were the 'If it's not Boeing, I ain't going' types. And then I had my first ride in an Airbus. WOW!!! Nice planes. Comfy seats, bigger windows, bigger lavs, better seat accoutrements. A whole lot nicer experience than I was expecting. I prefer some of the Airbus planes over the Boeing planes. I will always love the 757, and 767, but don't like the 737's much, but anyway...

 

[Philip_S]

In America, most corporations are beholden to their investors, and who ever they are. If they see that the money train is getting slim, they start getting anxious, and management heads tend to roll if it goes too far. It's become a really weird world...

Yeah, but you can’t boycott a company that doesn’t sell anything you can buy, and it’s illegal to organise indirect boycotts or strikes to cripple their suppliers (and those companies aren’t really all that vulnerable to anything that won’t take down the whole world). Their customers are mostly states and quasi-state actors, so you have to target those customers or the governments that support and licence the companies.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Yeah, but you can’t boycott a company that doesn’t sell anything you can buy, and it’s illegal to organise indirect boycotts or strikes to cripple their suppliers (and those companies aren’t really all that vulnerable to anything that won’t take down the whole world). Their customers are mostly states and quasi-state actors, so you have to target those customers or the governments that support and licence the companies.

Look at the Carlyle Group. They were heavily, and likely still are, the worldwide armament trade, and fossil fuels, and other 'nasty' industries. They own Dunkin' Brands, so aren't unfamiliar with marketing sin' products, and death. How does one boycott, or buycott them? Hard to do as they have so many other sources of money/income. You are right. Entrenched purveyors of evil have insulated themselves from the 'unwashed masses'. To effectively fight climate change, for instance, people need to figure out a way to reach those groups. To reach their investors back pockets. The last Dunkin' Donuts left here probably 6 years ago. Hmm... The Atlantic had an article saying 'The Bad Guys Are Winning'. I don't know if there is a way. So, you are right, to a large degree. Changing that dynamic will be crucial to effect positive and lasting change across the board for the future.

 

[CasualFanboy]

The notifications will look something like this:

"Apple has changed its practice to allow scanning of your physical devices without your permission. Any and all information obtained may be forwarded to state agencies at our sole discretion."

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

The notifications will look something like this:

"Apple has changed its practice to allow scanning of your physical devices without your permission. Any and all information obtained may be forwarded to state agencies at our sole discretion."

Nope...