Wikileaks, the non-profit organization that publicly reveals secret information and data, recently dumped a number of extremely revealing CIA documents. The previously classified documents outlined the different Hacking Tools the agency had used to hack into Apple iPhones and MacBook laptops in the past. Current users of Apple's devices are understandably concerned about the latest revelations and most are wondering if the Apple products they have are still vulnerable.
Apple confirms that its current devices are secure
To finally put an end to the concerns of its customers, Apple has released a statement that reassures users that none of the mentioned tools work on their current products.
The company explained that all of the CIA tools that were mentioned in the WikiLeaks document dump were outdated and all of the exploits they had utilized were patched more than half a decade ago.
In Apple's statement, the company assured customers that the alleged iPhone exploit was only limited to the iPhone 3G, which was immediately fixed when the iPhone 3GS was released in 2009. Meanwhile, the alleged "DarkSeaSkies" tool that injected itself onto MacBook Air laptops, via a thumb drive, was apparently rendered useless after the company patched the exploits. All Macs released from 2013 and beyond are reportedly no longer vulnerable to the particular tool.
Apple device hacking process
The CIA hacking tools that were outlined in the document dump had required CIA operatives to physically have access to the target device.
However, the entire process would reportedly be done in less than a minute, allowing agents to stealthily install the hack with minimal risk. Once the hacks were installed, CIA Listening Posts (LPs) were able to receive data that includes the target user's emails, YouTube cache, browsing history, and other communication and personal information.
The state of Apple's security today
Apple has of course updated and significantly improved the security of their operating systems in the past few years, but the CIA might have followed suit as well. It wouldn't really be far-fetched to assume that the CIA may have developed far more sophisticated tools than compared to the ones revealed in the WikiLeaks document. In any case, it has to be noted that no piece of software is truly invulnerable, not even the ones created by Apple.
