[djanogo]

He pivoted the NSO group targeting to Apple-Google discussion, with out any proof that Apple had anything to do with Pegasus.

He wants biggest American companies that world has ever had to open source and loose all the edge against rest of the world, but he runs close source proprietary server software which he wants people to use for secure communication.

[coolspot]

Apple is known to hand off whole China iCloud to CCP.

Also they refuse to zero-knowledge (e2e) encrypt US iCloud backups[1].

In San Bernandino shooter’s case, they refused FBI’s request to develop new tools to hack an already locked iPhone.

However I have little doubt they will refuse to sign&push OTA update of a Signal.app or “improved” iOS developed and provided by NSA.

Mercenary who helped Carlos Ghosn, recalled that in the middle of operation, while riding a train, his iPhone suddenly rebooted and started an iOS update[2]:

--

On the train, Taylor’s phone began an unexpected automatic software update. “The first thing I thought was, I wonder if the NSA knows,” he recalls. “I wouldn’t put anything past them.”

--

[1] - https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2021/01/apple-scraps-end-to-end-e...

[2] - https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/how-carlos-ghosn-esc...

[holmesworcester]

> with out (sic) any proof that Apple had anything to do with Pegasus.

Um, bundling a messaging app that parses feature-rich messages sent from anyone in the world using a memory-unsafe language and abusing DRM laws intended for anti-piracy protection to *ensure that no one can uninstall it from their phone* doesn't count as proof that Apple had something to do with Pegasus?

Yes, Durov's assertion that the bugs NSO exploited were intentionally left there by Apple at the behest of US intelligence agencies is presented without proof, and while conceivable is very unlikely [1].

But his assertion that monopoly practices by Apple had something to do with the Pegasus hacks is perfectly accurate given that Messages is insecure, forcibly bundled, and was in fact how many journalists and human rights defenders were hacked.

Durov's point that "it doesn't matter what apps you have installed on your phone" is especially depressing and a direct result of Apple's use of DRM to prevent users from uninstalling Messages. It would be nice if people could install Messages from their iPhones right now. Thanks to Apple, they can't.

[1] Not because Apple wouldn't do it if pressured (we know, for instance, that they caved to such pressure on iCloud encryption) but merely because there are likely so many vulnerabilities to find that the chances NSA, Apple, and NSO were all aware of the same vulnerabilities are very low.

[tester34]

>He wants biggest American companies that world has ever had to open source and loose all the edge against rest of the world

if software is the edge, then it's not solid, imo.

I thought US edge was capital, skilled people who can create insane stuff quickly and engineering culture that enables them