Even iOS 16 was affected: the iPhone’s Pegasus hack was more dramatic than expected

NSO group
Even iOS 16 spied on: Pegasus hackers were able to take over iPhones unnoticed

Without any user error, Pegasus software can be used to crack iPhones. Now it turns out that the attack worked much longer than expected.

It’s a nightmare scenario for any computer user: just receiving a message is enough to take control of the device. The hacking software Pegasus was able to do just that – of all things with the iPhone, which is considered to be very secure. Now it turns out that the attack was stopped much later than was thought for a long time.

This is shown by a study by the experts from “Citizenlab”. The software from the Israeli spy company NSO was actually discovered in 2021, and newer operating systems were considered safe. However, an analysis of several civil rights activists spied on in Mexico has now brought to light that the iOS 15 and iOS 16 systems that have been released since then had also been cracked by NSO.

Hack without user error

Access was gained via three vulnerabilities in processes belonging to the “Where is…” network and the iPhone’s smart home control. Particularly spicy: These are so-called “zero click” gaps. While you have to be tempted to click on an attempted link with classic phishing attacks, this is not necessary with zero-click. The attack could therefore take place completely undetected.

As with other attacks via Pegasus, the circle of victims is very small. The NSO group charges very dearly for their services. Their offer is therefore mainly used by governments and companies to spy on very high-ranking targets. Business representatives, politicians and journalists were affected. Human rights advocates and dissidents were also among the victims. A large-scale attack on random victims is virtually impossible in view of the high costs.

iOS 16: How to protect yourself

This also makes it a little more bearable that Apple’s operating systems were vulnerable up to at least iOS 16.1. “Citizen Lab” could not prove any attacks for later systems. The current version is 16.4.3. Anyone who has already installed one of the latest versions is at least protected against the known attack paths.

In order to protect users who are particularly at risk even better, Apple has been offering a so-called lockdown mode since iOS 16. It switches off many comfort functions in order to be able to guarantee more safety. In fact, the mode even warned of the attacks, reports “Citizen Lab”. There is no known case in which the hackers were successful with the lockdown mode activated.

It remains to be seen whether this will remain the case in the long term. At least since iOS 9, the NSO group had consistently managed to find ways into the depths of Apple’s system. The company had been able to operate in secret for almost ten years before it was exposed in the summer of 2021. The search for the gaps is enormously time-consuming because of the high security standards. But as long as the customers pay enough, it’s worth it.

Source: CitizenLab