This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race

by Nicole Perlroth

But nothing changed the surveillance game more than Apple’s unveiling of the first iPhone in 2007. TAO hackers developed ways to track an iPhone user’s every keystroke, text message, email, purchase, contact, calendar appointment, location, and search, and even capture live audio and video feeds of her life by hijacking her phone camera or hot-miking her microphone. The NSA swallowed up mobile alerts from travel companies—flight confirmations, delays, and cancellations—and cross-matched them with itineraries of other targets. An automated NSA program called Where’s My Node? sent analysts an email anytime an overseas target moved from one cell tower to another. TAO was now conducting instant, total invasion of privacy with minimal effort. And, until Snowden, iPhone users seemed blissfully oblivious to their invisible NSA ankle bracelet.