Roskomnadzor will buy iPhones to “research” their security

The Main Radio Frequency Center, a subsidiary of Roskomnadzor, announced the purchase of at least 20 iPhones of various models and four iPad tablets in order, as it is said, to “test the safety” of the devices. This is reported by “Vedomosti” with reference to the relevant tender on the state procurement portal.

According to the publication, the department intends to test the operation of the devices in case they are disabled by the American manufacturing company Apple, as well as their protection against surveillance. The representative of the HRCC claims that the purchases are necessary for “the study of the protocols used in the framework of ensuring the stable, safe and complete functioning of the Internet on the territory of Russia.”

When asked by the publication about the possible study of methods of unilaterally disabling the functions of these devices, he answered that these “will be complex studies.”

In addition, the Main Radio Frequency Center intends to purchase 21 smartphones and several tablets from other manufacturers, including Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung, Vivo and Oppo. At the same time, for devices on the Android platform, the purchase of an equivalent model is allowed, while for the iPhone, “the equivalent is inadmissible”, Vedomosti found out

All these devices will also be checked for security against surveillance and the ability to work in Russia in the event that they are disabled by the manufacturers themselves.

In total, more than two million rubles will be spent on gadgets.

As Kommersant previously wrote, employees of the so-called domestic political bloc of the Russian presidential administration were advised to get rid of their iPhones and switch to devices with a different operating system by the end of March. According to the interlocutors of the publication, the requirement is related to information security. The president’s administration believes that iPhones are more likely to be hacked by Western specialists.

In February, it became known that the “Main Radio Frequency Center” was conducting internal tests of the “information bomb” detection system. Its launch is planned for the second half of 2023.

The system called “Boar”, which is being developed by the St. Petersburg company Neobyt, which is under US sanctions, will track “points of information tension.” Presumably, this definition includes so-called fakes and any publicly significant information that creates a “threat to public order and public safety.” The Russian authorities call any information about the war with Ukraine, different from the version of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, fake.

In March 2022, Apple suspended official sales of all its products in Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine. Today, new iPhones, including the latest iPhone 14 and 14 Plus models introduced in 2022, can enter Russia only through parallel import, that is, without the official permission of the copyright owner. Apple products were included in the list of goods imported in this way, which was approved by the Russian government.