Phone hacked? Apple says it will alert you if your iPhone is infected with spyware
Cybercriminals have countless tools to target victims. They develop these methods themselves or, unsurprisingly, lift them from others.
Recently, authorities discovered cybercriminals were using military-grade hacking software designed by Israeli tech firm NSO Group. Research group Citizen Lab then revealed that NSO’s clients were using the software to spy on journalists. Tap or click here for our report with tips on protecting yourself from this dangerous vulnerability.
Apple rolled out security patches to prevent this type of government-sponsored spyware, and now it’s going one step further: Apple says it will notify owners if their iPhones and other devices have been compromised.
Here’s the backstory
The NSO’s homepage says the firm creates technology that helps government agencies “prevent and investigate terrorism and crime to save thousands of lives around the globe.” Well, that sounds noble. There’s more to it.
Apple announced that it’s suing NSO Group and its parent company for spying on Apple users. The complaint says NSO Group infected people’s devices using the firm’s Pegasus spyware.
Apple is seeking an injunction banning NSO Group from using its software, services or devices. The tech giant says there is documented history of such software being used to target journalists, activists, dissidents, academics, and government officials.
Apple also revealed information on NSO Group’s FORCEDENTRY, an exploit used to break into a victim’s Apple device to install the Pegasus program. The exploit was discovered by the research group Citizen Lab. Apple has since released a patch to fix the vulnerability.
Related: GoDaddy data breach: 1.2M user profiles, including passwords, exposed
Apple’s new alerts
Given the level of seriousness of these types of hacks, Apple says it will notify users when their Apple devices have been compromised by state-sponsored malware and spyware.
If Apple detects evidence of a state-sponsored attack, the targeted user will get a Threat Notification on the top of the page when signed into appleid.apple.com. Apple will also send an email and iMessage notification to the account associated with the user’s Apple ID.
Use an iPhone, iPad or Mac? You need to update NOW
A few months ago, we learned cybercriminals got their hands on military-grade hacking software called Pegasus, which the Israeli company NSO Group designed. While researching a potential hack of a Saudi activist’s phone, Citizen Lab blew the whistle on this scary security flaw. Allegedly, NSO clients used Pegasus to spy on and hack into the phones of at least 37 journalists.
Does your iPhone have Pegasus spyware installed? Use this free check to find out
A few weeks ago, a massive spying campaign surfaced, targeting several high-profile people, celebrities and nation heads. Called Pegasus, the devastating tool was developed by the Israeli company NSO Group. Its clients have subsequently used it to spy on targets. Tap or click here for details.
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