Apple just responded to newly released documents claiming that the U.S. National Security Agency has a method for gaining backdoor access to its iPhone. It says it has never worked with the agency, and is unaware of the alleged program targeting the iPhone known as DROPOUTJEEP.

The program was disclosed in a trove of documents leaked yesterday and shared by the security researcher Jacob Appelbaum and the German news magazine Der Spiegel.

More in a minute, but here’s Apple’s statement in full:

Apple has never worked with the NSA to create a backdoor in any of our products, including iPhone. Additionally, we have been unaware of this alleged NSA program targeting our products. We care deeply about our customers’ privacy and security. Our team is continuously working to make our products even more secure, and we make it easy for customers to keep their software up to date with the latest advancements. Whenever we hear about attempts to undermine Apple’s industry-leading security, we thoroughly investigate and take appropriate steps to protect our customers. We will continue to use our resources to stay ahead of malicious hackers and defend our customers from security attacks, regardless of who’s behind them.

via AllThingsD » Mobile http://allthingsd.com/20131231/apple-says-it-is-unaware-of-nsas-iphone-backdoor/