Apple boosts iPhone Security After Mideast Spyware Discovery
APPLE BOOSTS IPHONE SECURITY AFTER MIDEAST SPYWARE
DISCOVERY
BY RAPHAEL SATTER ASSOCIATED PRESS Aug 25, 1:35 PM EDT
PARIS (AP) -- A botched attempt to break into the iPhone
of an Arab activist using hitherto unknown espionage software has trigged a
global upgrade of Apple's mobile operating system, researchers said Thursday.
The spyware took advantage of three previously
undisclosed weaknesses in Apple's iPhone to take complete control of the
devices, according to reports published Thursday by the San Francisco-based
Lookout smartphone security company and internet watchdog group Citizen Lab.
Both reports fingered the NSO Group, an Israeli company with a reputation for
flying under the radar, as the author of the spyware.
"The threat actor has never been caught
before," said Mike Murrary, a researcher with Lookout, describing the
program as "the most sophisticated spyware package we have seen in the
market."
The reports issued by Lookout and Citizen Lab outlined
how an iPhone could be completely compromised with the tap of a finger, a trick
so coveted in the world of cyberespionage that in November a spyware broker
said it had paid a $1 million dollar bounty to programmers who'd found a way to
do it. The weaknesses could allow hackers to take control of targeted iPhones
to spy on calls and messages.
Apple said in a statement that it fixed the vulnerability
immediately after learning about it.
In a statement which stopped short of acknowledging that
the spyware was its own, the NSO Group said its mission was to provide
"authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and
crime."
The company said it had no knowledge of any particular
incidents.
© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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