To update to the latest version of iOS, users should access the Settings application on iPhones and iPads, followed by “General” and “Software Update”. For users running the beta of iOS 10, the latest seed also patches the exploits.
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Apple Inc issued a patch on Thursday to fix a unsafe security flaw in iPhones and iPads after researchers discovered that a prominent United Arab Emirates dissident’s phone had been targeted with a previously unknown method of hacking.
Ahmed Mansoor is an internationally recognized human rights defender, based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and recipient of the Martin Ennals Award (sometimes referred to as a “Nobel Prize for human rights”). A set of similar digital tools recently sold for $1 million, Citizen Lab’s Scott-Railton and his co-author, Bill Marczak, wrote in an online report posted Thursday. NSO Group’s Pegasus malware can also be used to target Android and BlackBerry devices, too.
Had Mansoor clicked on the link, he would have been directed to a website that would have exploited all three security holes and installed malware onto his iPhone, giving remote hackers full access to his device.
This appears to be the first known example of hackers having the ability to remotely jailbreak an iPhone 6, and Motherboard claims that it’s the first iPhone attack of this kind.
Citizen Lab researchers informed Apple of the vulnerability over a week ago, and the iPhone maker has released a patch for devices running iOS 9.
The software in question, which was used in a failed attempt to hack into an Arab activist’s iPhone allows hackers to read every email, text, and file; look through photos and videos; listen to phone calls; track the location; and turn on its microphone and camera – all without you having any idea your phone’s been hacked. Targeted data can include regular voice calls or those made through WhatsApp and Viber; SMS messages and messages from apps like Gmail, WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook and others; and personal data like calendar information, contact lists, and passwords, Citizen Lab said.
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“NSO’s mission is to help make the world a safer place, by providing authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime”, said Zamir Dahbash, NSO spokesman, in a statement to USA TODAY. NSO is the company behind Pegasus, a government-exclusive spyware product, Citizen Lab said.
