Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Thursday that it had uncovered a plot by the US National Security Agency (NSA) to use previously unknown malware to access so-called backdoor vulnerabilities in Apple’s iPhones, Reuters reported, according to News.ro.

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said several thousand Apple phones were infected, including those of Russian subscribers.

Neither Apple nor the NSA immediately responded to emailed requests for comment.

Russian intelligence also said the phones of foreign diplomats based in Russia and the former Soviet Union, including Israel, Syria, China and NATO members, were targeted.

“The FSB discovered an intelligence operation by the US special services using Apple mobile devices,” the FSB said in a statement.

According to Harvard University’s Belfer Center’s 2022 Cyber ​​Power Index, the United States is the world’s number one cyber power in terms of intent and capability, followed by China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

The FSB said the plot showed “close cooperation” between Apple and the NSA, the US agency responsible for cryptographic and communications intelligence and security.

Both the Kremlin and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation emphasized the importance of this issue.

“Collection of hidden data was carried out through software vulnerabilities in US-made mobile phones. US intelligence services have used IT corporations for decades to collect large-scale data about Internet users without their knowledge,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

According to the FSB, the plot was uncovered as part of a joint effort between its officers and the Federal Security Service (FSB), the powerful agency that manages security for the Kremlin and was once the Ninth Directorate of the KGB.

Officials in Russia, which Western spies say has built an extremely sophisticated domestic surveillance structure, have long doubted the security of American technology.

Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov said that all officials in the president’s administration know that gadgets like the iPhone are “absolutely transparent.”

“Their use for official purposes is unacceptable and prohibited,” Peskov said, adding that officials are free to use iPhones for private, unofficial communication.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has always said he does not own a smartphone, although the Kremlin has said the former KGB spy occasionally uses the Internet.

Kaspersky says employees’ iPhones were hacked

The Russian warning about Apple phones came hours before Moscow-based anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab released a report saying the iPhones of an unnamed number of its employees had been compromised in an “extremely sophisticated, professionally targeted cyber attack.”

Kaspersky said the spyware, delivered via invisible message, was installed through vulnerabilities in the iOS operating system and then transmitted information from the phone to remote servers.

According to Kaspersky, the digital espionage campaign targeted “senior and middle management” at the company, and the company published a technical report describing how the malware works.

The company did not immediately respond to e-mails and phone calls seeking comment on the timing of the report’s publication or whether it was related to the FSB warning.

Earlier this year, the Kremlin told officials involved in preparations for Russia’s 2024 presidential election to stop using Apple iPhones over fears the devices were vulnerable to Western intelligence services, the Kommersant newspaper reported.