Related News
Are you an Apple user? Upgrade now
Print Edition
Apple users were urged yesterday to update their devices after the tech giant announced a fix for a major software flaw that allows the Israeli Pegasus spyware to be installed on phones without so much as a click.
Cybersecurity experts at the Citizen Lab, a research center at the University of Toronto, uncovered the flaw while analyzing the phone of a Saudi activist.
That person is among tens of thousands believed to have been targeted with the Israeli-made Pegasus software.
According to media reports, this has been used worldwide to intercept the communications of activists, journalists and even heads of state.
Apple said on Monday that it had “rapidly” developed a software update after Citizen Lab alerted it to the hole in its iMessage software on September 7.
“Attacks like the ones described are highly sophisticated, cost millions of dollars to develop, often have a short shelf life, and are used to target specific individuals,” the company said.
Citizen Lab said it was urging people “to immediately update all Apple devices” in light of the new evidence.
Explosive revelations that governments have spied on people using the hugely invasive software — which was developed by the NSO Group, a secretive Israeli firm — have ricocheted around the world since July since they became public.
Once Pegasus is installed on a phone, it can be used to read a target’s messages, look at their photos, track their movements and even switch on their camera — all without the person knowing.
The flaw fixed by Apple on Monday is a so-called “zero-click exploit,” meaning that it can be installed on a device without the owner needing to do so much as click a button.
Citizen Lab said it believed the flaw, which it named FORCEDENTRY, had been used to install Pegasus on devices since February 2021 or possibly earlier.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
