Apple rejects claims of including backdoor in its iPhone, iOS products

On Monday, a security specialist released an extensive research paper detailing how governments and other third parties could access consumers' iPhones and other iOS devices via a backdoor installed on the products without the latter's knowledge, BGR reported. At the wake of Edward Snowden's revelations, the report incited international uproar. Apple has since issued an apology regarding the matter, and insisted that there is no such technology existing in its products.

Further emphasizing the iOS' security and privacy features, the company has said in an emailed statement published on Twitter by Financial Times journalist Tim Bradshaw, "We have designed iOS so that its diagnostic functions do not compromise user privacy and security, but still provides needed information to enterprise IT departments, developers and Apple for troubleshooting technical issues. A user must have unlocked their device and agreed to trust another computer before that computer is able to access this limited diagnostic data. The user must agree to share this information, and data is never transferred without their consent. As we have said before, Apple has never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products of services."

On the other hand, the right question to ask is that whether Apple has allowed its iOS products to be accessed nonetheless for governments and other entities who have the intention to access consumer information from their mobile gadgets. The paper, which was written by iOS forensic expert Jonathan Zdziarski, had somewhat coincided with Apple's email to Bradshaw.

Apple's email read, "We have designed iOS so that its diagnostic functions do not compromise user privacy and security, but still provides needed information to enterprise IT departments, developers and Apple for troubleshooting technical issues. A user must have unlocked their device and agreed to trust another computer before that computer is able to access this limited diagnostic data. The user must agree to share this information, and data is never transferred without their consent."

Zdziarski has said in his paper that there are several ways in which people who are familiar with the mobile operating system of Apple could install silent malware apps that would allow them to retrieve data well above the type of information Apple could purportedly get remotely from an iOS device when it needs to comply to requests from law enforcement.

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Apple Inc, Zdziarski iOS backdoor paper, mobile backdoor in gadgets

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