Russian military ‘unofficially’ bans iPhones during service – report

Source : http://rt.com/news/208195-iphone-banned-russian-military/

New conscripts in Russia’s mandatory military service are reportedly not being allowed to bring iPhones with them for the duration of the service over concerns that the closed operating system might contain spying backdoors, Izvestia reports.

“iPhones are banned,” a representative of the official draft and military hotline told Izvestia Daily.“You can take any mobile phone with you, but not iPhone, as [Apple] is an entirely American company.”

The unofficial ban on Apple products during conscription in the military is being explained as an effort to avoid possible security threats. “With the help of the iPhone everything can be monitored,” the hotline told the paper.

The Ministry of Defense press service has not yet commented on the reports, but the information has been confirmed by one of Moscow's conscripts who told Izvestia that he was advised not to take Apple products with him.

“Mobiles from other manufacturers did not cause such a reaction,” the unnamed young man said, claiming that “no documents on the official ban of iPhone” were offered to him.

Meanwhile, security experts agree that Apple devices could compromise Russia’s national security if widely used during military service at highly sensitive facilities.

“The assumption that Apple is actively working with the US Department of Defense is not groundless. As a rule, the encryption systems, such as the one used by Apple, are provided by the manufacturer working with the DoD. You can’t casually walk in and say you want to install such a system,” mobile research analyst Eldar Murtazin told the publication.

“The US controls 99 percent of the market of mobile operating systems. We can assume that backdoor access to the OS could have been introduced even without the manufacturer's knowledge,” Murtazin added. He believes that Russia should develop proper infrastructure and information security policies to be able to block unsolicited data transmission.

Independent expert Mikhail Romanov meanwhile says that iPhones may have a lot more hidden functions then their Android counterparts, pointing out that starting with the iPhone 5 the M7 motion processor chip tracks statistics on the movement of the device.

“There are developments, which in theory, could allow to render internal layouts of the premises in which only authorized personnel is allowed,”Romanov says, adding that if enough people carrying smartphones enter the restricted area, a more precise layout could be produced. “This is a real threat.”

Cellphone use in the Russian military is not either officially allowed or banned. It is up to the unit’s commander to allow mobile phone and internet usage at their discretion. The US on the other side has a list of all electronic devices that are approved for military service by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which certifies commercial technology for defense use.