Online Report Alleges Sandia Link in CIA Apple Hacking Efforts

Computer experts at Sandia National Laboratories helped the Central Intelligence Agency crack the security on Apple iPhones and iPads, online news outlet The Intercept reported this week. The news outlet, which is run by Glenn Greenwald, the journalist that published government documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, based its report on another batch of “top secret” documents provided by Snowden, this time about the CIA’s efforts to break the encryption on Apple products. According to the report, Sandia experts boasted at a 2012 Lockheed Martin-sponsored computer conference that they were able to conduct a successful “whacking” of Apple’ Xcode, which is used to create apps on Apple products, in CIA-sponsored research.

 

Manipulating the code would establish a backchannel for hackers to access private data on Apple products and create other security vulnerabilities. Sandia National Laboratories spokesman Jim Danneskiold declined to comment, referring questions to the National Nuclear Security Administration. The NNSA did not respond to a request for comment.