According to a recent report from ‘The Telegraph‘, it has been revealed that Apple Watches have been banned from use during Theresa May’s government official cabinet meetings over concerns that Russian hackers could hijack Cupertino’s smartwatch used by British politicians and use it as a listening device to access sensitive information.
The new policy of UK’s prime minister appears to be an extension of the already existing government policy of banning smartphones from high-level policy meetings.
Based on the publication’s report, at least some of the worries surrounding the line of smartwatches developed by Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) stem from concerns that Russian hackers might somehow use the gadget’s microphone to listen in on PM’s cabinet meetings.
Obviously, this is not just paranoia, but rather a justified one, especially following a recent official announcement from the U.S. administration stating that they were confident that the Russian government was behind recent hacks of the Democratic National Committee. Similar accusations have also been made against China and North Korea.
According to the statement, US intelligence officials said that “only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these [hacking] activities”. A source in the UK told The Telegraph : “The Russians are trying to hack everything.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied however, any involvement in hacks of US targets.
Meanwhile, in related news IBTimes explains that the Apple Watch has also been banned from Australian cabinet meetings. Alistair Macgibbon, special advisor on cyber security to the Australian prime minister, told Fairfax Media that “In a world in which it is necessary for government to have conversations that truly have no electronics in the room, there are going to be more and more items that will have to be locked away in cabinets.”
Macgibbon noted that greater attention needed to be paid to communications security as an increasing number of devices — from glasses to running shoes — would offer internet connectivity in future.
Apple Stock Action
Apple shares closed Monday at $116.05, up 1.74%, on a volume of more than 40 million shares on the Nasdaq. In pre-market hours, the stock is up $2.45, or 2.11%, to trade at $118.40, a price-per-share that values the tech giant at about $627 billion.
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