Friday, August 26, 2016

iOS: discovery of spyware operating three unknown critical flaws – CNET France

 iOS: discovery of spyware operating three  unknown critical flaws

On Thursday 25 August, Apple has rolled out a new version of iOS, Version 9.3.5 to fix three critical flaws allow hackers to spy and take control of the iPhone and iPad. If you have not installed the update, do it as soon as possible by going to the “Software update” general settings of your device ( tab “General “). These are accessible from the ‘Settings’ .

It all began when Ahmed Mansoor, an Emirati activist defender of human rights, receives strange messages promising revelations about the use of torture in prisons in the United Arab Emirates. You have to follow a link to access it, but Ahmed Mansoor, careful, decides not to click on it and transfer messages to the Citizen Lab, a unit of the University of Toronto specializing in cybersecurity.

The Citizen Lab and its partner Lookout then make a startling discovery: the links lead to actually spyware of great sophistication. If Ahmed Mansoor had clicked on one of them, the pirates have taken control of his iPhone without his noticing, and the software may have never been discovered.

The authors of spyware, called Pegasus, were able to record telephone conversations and activate the device’s camera at any time. But most alarming is that the software operates three faults “zero day” , that is to say, unknown to date. A rare, especially on iOS, deemed more secure than Android for example.

Going back to the source of the program, experts found that Pegasus had been created by NSO Group, an Israeli company that develops solutions spy mobile phone to States. Given the activity of the target and the estimated cost of the attack, Citizen Labs thinks that piracy sponsor is none other than the government of the United Arab Emirates.

Pegasus has already infected other people according to the researchers, including a Mexican journalist and Kenyans whose identity is unknown. Although this software does not appear to target the general public, you should still realize the update as soon as possible

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