Apple has denied Russia’s claim that the tech giant allowed US intelligence services to use its products to spy on foreign diplomats.
“We have never worked with any government to insert a backdoor into any Apple product and never will,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to the media on Thursday.
The denial came after Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) accused the US intelligence agencies of installing malware on Apple smartphones used by Russian diplomats, as well as diplomats from Israel, China, and Syria.
According to the FSB, the Americans gathered information through “a previously unknown malicious program that uses software vulnerabilities provided by the manufacturer.” The FSB also accused Apple of providing the US government with “a wide range of opportunities” to spy on its clients.
The allegations were made as Washington and Moscow are locked in the most serious diplomatic standoff in decades due to the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
Former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden revealed in 2013 that the US had been running a global operation to surveil foreign politicians, including some in allied countries.