Russia’s Federal Security Service is telling thousands of officials in the country to stop using iPhones and Apple products due to claims of U.S. surveillance, but the officials aren’t happily complying with the order.
The Financial Times reports that ministries and institutions of the government are being prevented from using their devices, including iPhones and iPads, due to continued concern over alleged U.S. spying on Russian organizations.
The trade ministry said it will ban iPhone usage for “work purposes from Monday. The digital development ministry says it will follow suit.
“Security officials in ministries – these are FSB employees who hold civilian positions such as deputy ministers – announced that iPhones were no longer considered safe and that alternates should be sought, a source close to a government agency told the report.
The FSB and officials “truly believe that Americans can use their equipment for wiretapping,” security expert Andrey Soldatov explained. Soldatov added that while the FSB has “long been concerned about the use of iPhones for professional contacts,” there may be some resistance to the change.
“The presidential administration and other officials opposed [restrictions] simply because they liked iPhones,” Soldatov added.
Another cyber security expert, Alexey Lukatsky, said officials may not want to switch to using devices running the Russian-produced Aurora operating system. “There were restrictions on the use of work email on devices not certified by [security services] before. But most officials did not comply,” Lutatsky explains, before wondering how many “will comply now.”
A June 1 announcement by the FSB claimed the U.S. National Security Agency had accessed backdoor security vulnerabilities in the iPhone. The FSB also claimed that Apple had been involved in creating the backdoors.
Apple denied the FSB’s claims, saying that the Cupertino company has “never worked with any government to insert a backdoor into any Apple product.”