“Although Google’s Android dominates the worldwide smartphone market, the CIA concentrated on Apple’s iOS because of its popularity among global elites, Wikileaks reports,” Leander Kahney reports for Cult of Mac.
“Wikileaks’ huge trove of leaked CIA documents, codenamed ‘Vault 7,’ claims that the CIA formed a special unit called the Mobile Development Branch (MDB) to infect smartphones. And within that unit, Apple’s iOS was a prime target,” Kahney reports. “According to Wikileaks, the CIA’s MDB developed or exploited a range of hacks, vulnerabilities and even specialized malware to turn iPhones and iPads into spying devices. Compromised iPhones and iPads can track users’ conversations, texts, geolocations and even remotely turn on the camera and microphone.”
“Wikileaks’ giant dump of leaked CIA documents — which at 8,761 documents (so far) is claimed to be the largest in history — says that Apple’s devices were of particular interest to the CIA because of their popularity among elite groups,” Kahney reports. “‘The disproportionate focus on iOS may be explained by the popularity of the iPhone among social, political, diplomatic and business elites,’ [WikiLeaks wrote].”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Makes sense. Hack an iPhone or a Mac, get an invitation to spend the weekend with the Royal Family at Balmoral and Pakistan’s nuclear launch codes. Hack an Android phone or a Windows PC, get nude photos of some guy’s 350 lb. wife/cousin and today’s Dollar General coupons.
Trevor & Carol vs. Clevon, Trish & Britney = iOS & macOS vs. Windows, Android & Chrome.
Video contains language that may be NSFW (depending on where you work):
SEE ALSO:
WikiLeaks reveals CIA’s global covert hacking program targeting Apple iPhone, Google Android, Microsoft Windows and even Samsung TVs – March 7, 2017
Apple iPhone users spend more than ever on apps – February 21, 2017
Apple users have higher credit scores than Android and Windows users – January 24, 2017
Poor man’s iPhone: Android on the decline – February 26, 2015
Study: iPhone users are smarter and richer than those who settle for Android phones – January 22, 2015
Why Android users can’t have the nicest things – January 5, 2015
iPhone users earn significantly more than those who settle for Android phones – October 8, 2014
Yet more proof that Android is for poor people – June 27, 2014
More proof that Android is for poor people – May 13, 2014
Android users poorer, shorter, unhealthier, less educated, far less charitable than Apple iPhone users – November 13, 2013
IDC data shows two thirds of Android’s 81% smartphone share are cheap junk phones – November 13, 2013
CIRP: Apple iPhone users are younger, richer, and better educated than those who settle for Samsung knockoff phones – August 19, 2013
iPhone users smarter, richer than Android phone users – August 16, 2011
Study: Apple iPhone users richer, younger, more productive than other so-called ‘smartphone’ users – June 12, 2009
Not a fan of criminal activity, but if, God forbid, you hack into an iPhone users stuff, you might find out that they live in a cool NYC apartment, an Android user probably lives in some trailer out in the middle of nowhere. So yes, MDN does make a good point. Which city has more expensive real estate: NYC, or Nowheresville, Nebraskahoma?
I’ve lived in Manhattan, it was once the capital of the world…now it is a libtard shithole ran by a criminal mayor.
MDN, Apollonia, botty…your arrogant, elitist attitudes are both ridiculous and disgusting. There is no reasoning with people wedded to such casual and callous bigotry. You represent the infection in this country – the prejudiced, biased, opinionated, dogmatic, intolerant, narrow-minded, warped, twisted, and distorted thinking exemplified by the “label and disparage” strategy.
People who use Android phones are not necessarily bad, nor are iPhone users necessarily good or better. Disliking Google and Samsung for their actions is one thing. Disparaging all Android users is entirely different. And tossing in “trailers” and “libtards” to make your points…doesn’t.
THANK YOU!!
I didn’t know living in a trailer and being a “libtard” are mutually exclusive. Where are these liberal trailer park utopias?
Yeah, I’m such trash…
A scum move from a scum organization in a scum country. Thank goodness that they fight amongst themselves so much, makes the free and civilized world a much safer place when they do that.
If the US is such scum, then why are you an Apple fan? Go use Samsung Gaglazy rip-off fake iPhones if you dislike America so much! I don’t need this negativity on my favorite site.
It’s because I’m a humanitarian and Apple is a global company that has to deal with their country.
And just because a country is scum doesn’t mean that they need remain there. There is hope that one day they might wake up, fix their moral compass, bring their president to the Hague to answer for crimes against humanity, actually follow the UN Human Rights Declaration that they signed.
See that’s that thing that a lot of people aren’t able to discern. I don’t dislike that nation, that nation dislikes the world. They are the ones invading other nations on trumped up charges, resorting to torture, denying people justice as opposed to those from the free and civilized world.
The negativity doesn’t originate from me, I just point it out and so far the majority are in denial and resort to the ad hominem attack.
Your post for example, where is your comment about the issue at hand? There’s nothing, it’s all an attempted attack on me. It’s so typical.
You want change, get over the denial, that nation is a terrorist nation, and until the people of that nation wake up and smell the coffee there won’t be any serious change, just more of these immoral acts against humanity that denote the incredible fear of an insecure nation.
Piss off you egotistical Canadian cocksucker! You pompous assholes would be speaking Russian if it wasn’t for us. What a high and mighty pile of libtard your sorry ass is.
I’ll be sticking around as I have here for years.
Now about your comments about the issue. Oh wait, you haven’t made any, just another personal attack. Thanks for proving my point.
So you’re still angry BlackBerry isn’t making anymore phone, eh? It must be even more frustrating knowing that BB ditched their own OS and is now making Fragmandroid phones. I like Canada, as my state is next door, but this anger is doing no one any favors. Hopefully, someone will move to Canada and start a company that’s just as good as
BlackBerry still makes phones. You angry cause you got that wrong?
Again I tell you I’m not angry. I have not respect for your scum nation but that’s a far cry from being angry.
This continued failure to comment about the issue at hand is doing me a great big favor as I pointed out previous.
Are you actually capable of dropping the personal attack and commenting on the CIA’s targeting of Apple’s iOS? Hopefully someone from your country will wake up and do so.
I could be you, but you’d have to let go of the personal attack for a bit, and I don’t know if you could handle that.
Do you still like Minnesota? I promise we are not scum like the southern states. And I’m sorry if I offended you. I like and I don’t want them to sufferer under Orange Hitler’s crazy regime. Forgive me as I’m autistic and I can’t perceive the world in the same way neurotypicals can. I just love Apple, and I want to support them in any way possible.
Yes, I happen to like the people of your country and I had a great time when I went to Minnesota (Duluth). It’s been a while since I’ve been to your country, only once post the second 9-11. It was then that I saw changes that made me decide to avoid the country but I still meet people from your country from time to time and I find most of them fine.
Now you are talking about the issue, although I think these leaks stem from a time prior to your current president.
Thank you for sharing that perspective on your autism, your perception is your perception and that’s important.
I too love Apple, and that’s why I am so happy to see them standing up to the injustices that are arising in their home country. They have humanitarian concepts driving them, “the power to be your best”. That’s inspiring and worthy of support.
It’s your regime as you point out that makes me shake my head, not the good individual people I have dealt with.
Thanks for being persistent.
RW: isn’t there a parallel between you wanting others to speak to the issue and you are speaking to an issue that’s not exactly Mac pertinent ?
An excellent point Ripbo. I have come up with three rules of thumb that people from your country often use during online discussions. The first is the personal attack, the second is an attempt to use smoke an mirrors and finally never ever deal with the topic at hand.
The topic at hand is a governmental organization that is hacking into Apple, which is dedicated to supporting personal digital privacy so I think it’s very appropriate.
Donald Trump, and before him George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and Bush Senior and Reagan and Ford and Nixon and…, have set the U.S. Constitution to a stringent series of tests: whether the republic can survive attempts at subversion and tendency to monarchy. So far it has, but the best test of all is nigh: with a supermajority in Congress and the likelihood of a packed Supreme Court, is tyranny avoidable?
I believe yes, because of the importance of capitalism to the U.S. — that’s the fifth estate: after the system of checks and balances in government, plus the free press, it is the engine of commerce that makes all of it worth pursuing in the first place, and will ultimately derail hysterical political rhetoric in favour of common sense.
Hey beautiful. Funny you should say that, because there is another document that your nation has signed and has been put through a series of stringent test by your nation and your nation just hasn’t been able to make the cut.
It’s known as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and while not legally binding, you’ve signed it, and have been totally disregarding it. That says a few things about your nation to the free and civilized world. Your nation’s word, even signed on paper is totally worthless, your nation’s attitude is totally selfish, you put your own nation’s interest before that of the planet and for this issue, your nation has absolutely no regard for personal privacy, cause everything is a threat to your so precious national insecurity.
It’s a shame to see a once great nation wallow in the gutter like you do.
Have a great day though, the sun still shines upon the free and civilized world.
Curious RW, what country, or what kind of country is on your “A” list?
well, let’s put it like this, RW’s favorite song is “Back In The USSR.”
I thought that was Donovan Trumpovsky’s favorite song. Or am I listening to too many “alternative facts” again?
No, you’re listening to the voices in your head.
Those voices must be real loud then, as everyone I know openly believes that the Russians hacked our voting systems. Besides, is it not proven fact that Trump is married to someone from the former Soviet Union? Surely he would still have some interests in Russia. Imagine McCarthy’s reaction if he were to find out that the President is a Russian sympathizer!
“everyone I know openly believes”…just add “the earth is flat” and you have the same words Galileo heard when first espousing his heliocentric theory.
It was Copernicus, not Galileo, who advanced the heliocentric theory. In Galileo’s time, educated persons (especially mariners) generally accepted that the Earth’s surface was curved.
I know that dumb Pollack Copernicus came up with the heliocentric theory…I was referring to the public response when he did it in Italy.
If you were a proper racist, you’d spell it dumb Polack. Jackson Pollock was an abstract expressionist, aka spatter artist.
dang, I always mess that one up, I’ve seen it both ways though…thanks.
Charlie McCarthy — yet another puppet! Time to get Punch and Judy involved in the action. We already have Chucky, Pinnochio and Howdy Doody in the White House. Master of the Macabre Alfred Hitchcock’s theme music was Dance of the Marionettes. Talk about identity politics — we can’t even be sure whose voice we’re really listening to, any more. But, better puppets than clowns…brrrr.
have you been into the vino again? 🙂
Just riffing on the “puppet” theme so amusingly displayed in the Presidential debates. A theme that hasn’t dissipated, for some reason…some say Putin is never seen to move his mouth…
Rootin’ tootin’, shirtless selfie shootin’, jackboot scootin’, Crimea lootin’, bad Vlad Putin….what a guy. 🙂
Set to the tune of “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” no doubt. Jim Croce, what a songwriter.
Donovan sang some great songs. I’d like to hear one now.
“Lalena” is my favorite by Mr. Leitch.
The lock upon my garden gate’s a snail, that’s what it is
another good one, Juanita. 🙂
I like “Atlantis” also.
I like “Wear You Love Like Heaven” also.
Way down, below the ocean, where I want to be, she may be…my antediluvean baby, oh yeah.
and donald trumps favorite is……
stevie wonders classic “mistra know it all”
give it a listen, good old stevie was about 45 years ahead of the curve.
Check out the Global Peace Index. The green list is top notch, and I’ll hum and haw with the top half. The bottom, not so impressive.
I’ve been thinking — not always a good thing.
A single species, H. sapiens, conquered the globe, exterminated half of its species, and subjugated the rest. Now it is genetically engineering what’s left, and is doing the same to itself.
Sounds like a god to me. An insane god.
And an inept one….
Goodness Herself if you are going to think, think clearly.
That species hasn’t conquered the globe. It might be the only species to produce chemicals that are toxic to all life but it hasn’t produced enough to wipe out all life on the planet.
The population of the human species is higher than it’s ever been before and the contenders like Spanish influenza do pretty good at taking 50-100 million people down in a few years. Not every your overkill military has been able to match those death numbers over that period of time, though not from lack of trying.
I will give you this, that egotistical arrogance exuding from your nation could lead to delusional deity aspects such as having an ego larger than the known universe. It makes me think that your country is compensating for something, possibly a lack of a moral compass and the inability to travel on a moral path.
I thank god for blessing the free and civilized world, one can really tell the difference.
Define “global elite”.
Any member of the CFR, The Bilderberg Group, The governing body of the EU, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Trilateral Commission, virtually all of the Democrat party leadership, the CIA-controlled main stream media and every Bush Crime Syndicate RINO…but most of all: The Federal Reserve.
anyone who doesn’t refer to himself as botvinnik✓trump
Botty randomly parrots the names of whatever group Faux News makes out to be the bogyman this year. Meanwhile Trump hires Goldman Sachs to repeat all the same mistakes of the Bush years: lax financial regulation and overspending on military government bloat. It doesn’t take reasoned principles with objective evidence to be on botty’s watch list, just a cable subscription to the Hannity network.
Would uber patriot botty side with the Native Americans or Big Oil when rights are called to question? We already know the answer to that. All it takes is a quick buck to change Faux News and its mindless viewing audience into the squawk box of the global elites that botty claims to hate. Foreign corporations, including chinese steel makers, profit and another unneeded ecological mess is created at a time when oil has never been cheaper. Yay, botty supports those globalists. Because that’s what Murdoch, jetsetting around the world in his private jet, has narrated to his subscribers. He doesn’t even have to pay botty for his participation in internet disinformation campaigns. Elite partisan FUD distributor indeed.
I don’t own a television.
What tech company do YOU trust?
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the publication by WikiLeaks of what it described as thousands of pages of confidential files about CIA hacking activities (all times local):
12:55 p.m.
WikiLeaks claims Samsung smart TVs are among the CIA’s weapons for surveillance.
WikiLeaks claims the CIA worked with U.K. intelligence officials to turn microphones in TVs into listening devices.
Samsung smart TVs have microphones so viewers can make voice commands, such as requests for movie recommendations. The commands typically aren’t transmitted outside the home unless users activate the feature. If the TV is off, there’s no listening being done.
But WikiLeaks claims that documents it obtained show that through a program called Weeping Angel, the target TV appears to be off when it is actually on — and listening.
WikiLeaks says the audio goes to a covert CIA server rather than a party authorized by Samsung. In such cases, audio isn’t limited to TV commands but could include everyday conversations.
There is no way to spin this positively for Pipeline Timmy…he is a creep.
funny take and funny video….thanks for the laughs
I think some of this CIA mumbo jumbo, is meant to confuse people in relation to the Russian hacks. We need to stay the course and get all he foreign spies out of Washington, I mean the Whitehoise.
It looks like Donald Grump is replacing the alligators with crocodiles in his little swamp. If you honestly think a corpocracy is a good thing for this country, than I really question what your ideas of a “great America” really are.