The official statement on behalf of the company was released on Tuesday December 31, 2013.
Apple has reacted to the allegation that it co-operated with the National Security Agency of the United States in compromising user data on iPhones Sounak Mukhopadhyay
Apple has reacted to the allegation that it co-operated with the National Security Agency of the United States in compromising user data on iPhones

Apple has reacted to the allegation that it co-operated with the National Security Agency of the United States in compromising user data on iPhones. The official statement on behalf of the company was released on Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013. The tech giant has claimed that it has never worked with the NSA. It has also stressed that the company was unaware of any such infiltration through spyware which allowed the NSA monitor iPhone users remotely.

Apple Insider referred to AllThingsD which provided the company statement and reported that Apple was apparently working on strengthening its security system further to deal with such issues. This is the reaction to the latest leak by 'whistleblower' Edward Snowden who claimed that Apple worked with the NSA in allowing the U.S. security agency to have a control over the user data of iPhone users. The NSA has allegedly implanted spyware to monitor in-phone assets like location data, text messages and call records. It has also monitored the microphone audio, the leaked NSA document revealed.

The NSA spyware programme named 'DROPOUTJEEP' started in 2008. In the leaked document, the NSA claims that it had a 100 per cent success rate in implanting the spyware on Apple devices. However, the document also claims that physical contact is required to implant the spyware in a target device.

Security researcher Jacob Appelbaum believes that it is not possible that Apple was not aware of the entire spying procedure executed by the NSA. Mr Appelbaum, who was talking at the Chaos Communications Congress in Germany, opined that he did not believe that Apple had not helped the NSA. Even though he admitted that it is not possible for him to prove his claim, NSA's claim that it has a 100 per cent success rate in implanting spyware in a target device simply shows that the company was involved in the act, he claimed.

Apple seems to be on slippery grounds at the moment as it may have to work really hard to prove its commitment to users.