(Reuters) – CIA researchers have worked for nearly a decade to break the security protecting Apple (AAPL.O) phones and tablets, investigative news site The Intercept reported on Tuesday, citing documents obtained from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The report cites top-secret U.S. documents that suggest U.S. government researchers had created a version of XCode, Apple’s software application development tool, to create surveillance backdoors into programs distributed on Apple’s App Store.
The Intercept has in the past published a number of reports from documents released by whistleblower Snowden. The site’s editors include Glenn Greenwald, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his work in reporting on Snowden’s revelations, and by Oscar-winning documentary maker Laura Poitras.
