The UK government has banned the Apple Watch from any cabinet meetings on concerns that Russian hackers might be snooping in on conversations.
Fearing that the Russians could hack Apple's smartwatch and spy on conversations, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has decided to ban ministers from wearing the Apple Watch at cabinet meetings.
The information comes from The Telegraph, which cites people with knowledge of the decision. The Apple Watch ban follows a similar ban on mobile phones, which are also barred from cabinet meetings. UK cabinet members would often wear the Apple Watch when attending meetings, but that's not an option anymore.
"The Russians are trying to hack everything," one source told The Telegraph.
Russia is thought to have one of the world's most active hacking operations, and it's not the first time that such concerns arise. Over the past several years, the U.S. government and its Western allies have repeatedly accused Russia of hacking governments, organizations and companies. The hacks allegedly come from both the government and from various Russian hacking groups.
Just a couple of days ago, the United States formally accused Russia of conducting a series of cyberattacks on U.S. political organizations and citizens with the purpose of interfering with the U.S. presidential elections.
More specifically, the United States is confident that the Russian government directed the hack attacks that breached the emails of the Democratic National Committee, among others.
In a joint statement, the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security said that the hacking attacks are not new, as the Russians have employed similar techniques and tactics across Europe and Eurasia to influence public opinion.
As with any other previous accusations regarding hacking and cyber attacks, a spokesman for Russian leader Vladimir Putin denied any involvement and deemed the claims as "rubbish."
Nevertheless, the UK fears that Russian hackers could gain access to sensitive information by hacking the Apple Watch and listening in on cabinet conversations, which is why it has decided to ban the wearable from all cabinet meetings.
The Apple Watch may not be a known hacking target, but it runs on Apple's iOS and the mobile operating system was hacked in the past. Consequently, with mobile phones already blocked from cabinet meetings, Russian hackers could turn to the Apple Watch and make it a target. The new ban would avoid such risks.
At the same time, banning the Apple Watch from cabinet meetings might be a bit exaggerated, considering that it's not even connected to the internet once you take the paired smartphone out of the equation. With mobile phones already banned, the Apple Watch would not be online anyway as it cannot operate online independently from a smartphone. It's also unlikely that a monitoring app fraudulently installed on the smartwatch would go unnoticed. Even if somehow the Apple Watch owner would be completely unaware of the installation of such an app, which is highly unlikely, it would still be obvious later on since constant monitoring would mark a significant battery drain.
The UK doesn't want to take any chances, however, so the Apple Watch will not be allowed anywhere near cabinet meetings from now on.
