2023-04-19 11:24:41
MADRID, 19 (Portaltic/EP)
The creators of the Pegasus spy malware, NSO Group, targeted at least three zero-click exploits against iOS devices last year, targeting civilian users around the world via the iMessage or Messages app, researchers say. by CitizenLab.
Specifically, they were designed for the iOS 15 and iOS 16 versions, but the isolation mode that Apple introduced last year in the latter came to alert users in real time that they were suffering an attack attempt by one of the ‘exploits’.
This is the ‘exploit’ that researchers have called PWNYOURHOME, which was launched against iOS 15 and iOS 16 in October 2022. It tries to access the victim’s device using a technique known as zero-click, in which the person does not have to take any action (such as clicking on a link or opening a file).
PWNYOURHOME acted in two steps, each time attacking a different iPhone process: first HomeKit and then the iMessage messaging application, as detailed on its official blog.
“Although NSO Group may have later devised a solution for this real-time warning, we have not seen PWNYOURHOME successfully used against any device where isolation mode is enabled,” the researchers note.
The isolation mode was designed as an optional use feature to protect the user who may be a victim of cyberattacks considered sophisticated, that is, those developed by private organizations with state support, such as NSO Group, an Israeli company that has developed the ‘ Pegasus spyware.
This mode further strengthens the device’s defenses and limits some of its functionality to reduce the surface that can be a potential victim of spyware – one that collects information from a device and transmits it to an external entity without the knowledge or user consent.
In the case of the iMessage app, this mode blocks most types of attachments other than images and disables various features, such as web link preview.
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