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WikiLeaks' New Dump Shows How The CIA Allegedly Hacked Macs and iPhones Almost a Decade Ago (vice.com)
WikiLeaks said on Thursday morning it will release new documents it claims are from the Central Intelligence Agency which show the CIA had the capability to bug iPhones and Macs even if their operating systems have been deleted and replaced. From a report on Motherboard: "These documents explain the techniques used by CIA to gain 'persistenc'' on Apple Mac devices, including Macs and iPhones and demonstrate their use of EFI/UEFI and firmware malware," WikiLeaks stated in a press release. EFI and UEFI is the core firmware for Macs, the Mac equivalent to the Bios for PCs. By targeting the UEFI, hackers can compromise Macs and the infection persists even after the operating system is re-installed. The documents are mostly from last decade, except a couple that are dated 2012 and 2013. While the documents are somewhat dated at this point, they show how the CIA was perhaps ahead of the curve in finding new ways to hacking and compromising Macs, according to Pedro Vilaca, a security researcher who's been studying Apple computers for years. Judging from the documents, Vilaca told Motherboard in an online chat, it "looks like CIA were very early adopters of attacks on EFI."
Exactly the opposite. It used to be easy to hack your own computer. Now you need the resources of the CIA.
It have also been long suspected that UN strives for world domination and have plans to take control of the US via military force, that aliens insert tracking chips into people and that the MIB goes around harassing people that "knows" this with silent black helicopters.
IT'S. NOT. LOGICAL.
Stop giving in to shitty conspiracy theories - there's no need for them. If there were secret backdoors inserted in hardware and software then we would know it, stopping such information from leaking via the engineers building the things would be impossible. Add to this the fact that many hardware designs are created and manufactured abroad or (not that unusual) as a co-operation between several teams in several countries. How could leaks be stopped unless all the governments in question work together and wipe the minds of the engineers after the designs are done? That's simply crazy!
It is more likely that the companies doesn't want to release the data as:
. they haven't documented it well enough.
. they don't want to add extra work for documentation for external consumption.
. they don't want to waste money on something that will not earn them extra money.
. there are hacks and holes in the specification that they don't want others to see. (not backdoor holes - crappy code holes)
. they don't want to have problems with people using the hardware out-of-spec, something that can lead to serious legal problems.
. they don't want competitors to see how they solved some hardware, software or hardware-software problem. Trade secrets are a thing.
. they don't want competitors to see that they use patented technology without license.
Of course there may be _some_ hardware manufacturer that is forced (as it would be a liability for them) to insert backdoors from a goverment agency, hard to prove otherwise. But again that would be either an unusual exception for an unusual case as otherwise the reveal of such backdoors from a certain country will lead to quick and hard economical problems. E.g. a processor manufacturer may suddenly get no orders from abroad and other processor manufacturers will be suspected to also have backdoors. Do you realize the impact that could have?