Apple: An iPhone belonging to a member of an international Washington, D.C.-based civil society organisation was purportedly hacked using the spyware Pegasus, which is developed by Israeli firm NSO Group.
Apple iPhone hacked by Pegasus
Citizen Lab, a security research lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School, discovered the problem and released more information on how it works and who is affected. This vulnerability (dubbed the Blastpass vulnerability Chain by Citizen Lab) appears to be capable of compromising iPhones running the most recent version of iOS (16.6). Worse, it may do it without the victim’s knowledge.
According to John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher with Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School, the hack was found last week and reported to Apple Inc., who responded rapidly to investigate and repair the issue.
“The gravity of the attack, which is a zero-click, combined with the fact that it was being actively used in the wild against civil society makes it clear that this is the kind of thing that needs to be taken really seriously and prioritised, and we’re glad that Apple did that,” Scott-Railton said in an interview.
How to stay safe?
The latest iOS 16.6.1 patch addresses another major bug that may have been deliberately exploited. It affects newer iPhones and iPads, and it also means that a hacker could take over someone’s phone by emailing them a maliciously generated attachment.
“This latest find shows once again that civil society is targeted by highly sophisticated exploits and mercenary spyware,” Citizen Lab wrote. “Apple’s update will secure devices belonging to regular users, companies and governments around the globe. The BLASTPASS discovery highlights the incredible value to our collective cybersecurity of supporting civil society organizations.”
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