Apple Gotofail bug: Simple mistake or NSA conspiracy?

Apple spent the weekend scrambling to respond to a security bug called "Gotofail" discovered first in its iOS devices and then in its Mac OSX. Beyond just leaving users vulnerable, the flaw ignited a debate among cybersecurity experts because the mistake in the code was considered so basic. Some wondered how Apple could have made such a simple error.

"This sort of subtle bug deep in the code is a nightmare," wrote Google's security expert Adam Langley on his blog. "I believe that it's just a mistake, and I feel very bad for whomever might have slipped in an editor and created it. But others wondered whether the code was a deliberate attempt to create a backdoor for government spy agencies. They pointed to the fact that some researchers have discovered that the bug first appeared in a version of iOS 6 at about the same time that slides released by Edward Snowden indicate that the National Security Agency claimed it had established a backdoor into some products by Apple. "It’s purely circumstantial," wrote noted Apple follower John Gruber who writes the Daring Fireball blog. "But the shoe fits."