On Wednesday, the company sent out an alert to select iPhone users about detecting a 'targeted mercenary spyware attack.'

Worth noting: the warning originally had a direct mention that the attack was from a surveilling government, but they removed that part after being asked.

I wonder how they attack Android

Same way, Pegasus.

@LWD@lemm.ee
link
fedilink
37M

removed by mod

@FeelThePower@lemmy.dbzer0.com
creator
link
fedilink
10
edit-2
7M

It was never mentioned by name, only being referred to by apple as “being state-sponsored”. They also do openly mention Israel in connection with NSO Pegasus though.

@LWD@lemm.ee
link
fedilink
27M

removed by mod

Otter
link
fedilink
18
edit-2
7M

Quoting the government portion

Apple declined to elaborate on the specific spyware attack since doing so could tip off the attackers about the company’s detection techniques. Still, the email references commercial surveillance provider NSO Group, an Israeli company notorious for developing the Pegasus spyware, which can sometimes hijack a smartphone simply by sending the user a single message. In the past, Pegasus has been found on phones belonging to activists, journalists, and politicians, with additional evidence pointing to governments possibly buying access to the spyware tech.

These spyware attacks can cost millions of dollars to develop. They can then expire once the software vulnerabilities they exploit are patched. As a result, commercial spyware providers and their government customers tend to deploy such attacks in a targeted fashion, rather than through mass deployment. Still, Apple’s alert underscores how pervasive commercial spyware has become, targeting users in nearly half of the world’s countries.

Create a post

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

  • Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn’t great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
  • Don’t promote proprietary software
  • Try to keep things on topic
  • If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
  • Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
  • Be nice :)

Related communities

Chat rooms

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

  • 0 users online
  • 57 users / day
  • 383 users / week
  • 1.5K users / month
  • 5.7K users / 6 months
  • 1 subscriber
  • 3K Posts
  • 74.8K Comments
  • Modlog