After the university researchers contacted Apple, the company developed a fix and distributed it as an automatic update to iPhone 6 owners, according to Apple spokesman Fred Sainz.
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The researchers said the spyware involved was most likely created by NSO Group, an Israeli cyber-war company.
Apple is rolling out a global update to its iOS mobile operating system after a botched attempt to break into the iPhone of an Arab activist using spyware.
Apple (AAPL) repaired a security flaw in its iPhones and iPads on Thursday after human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor’s phone was the target of a thwarted text message hack, Reuters reports. Murray is the vice president of security research at San Francisco based Lookout, which focuses on mobile security, says a company is selling hacking software to governments. Promising to reveal details about torture in UAE prisons, the unknown sender included a suspicious-looking link at the bottom of the message, but Mansoor didn’t bite. Apple claims devices running up-to-date beta versions of iOS 10 are unaffected.
The spyware, known as Pegasus, is capable of stealing and intercepting all data on an infected user’s iPhone.
That would give the cybercriminal access to a device’s camera and microphone, meaning the hacker could take images and files, track the owner’s movements and capture audio calls even in such normally secure apps as WhatsApp.
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Apple told various USA media outlets that it fixed the vulnerabilities as soon it learned about them. “We advise all of our customers to always download the latest version of iOS to protect themselves against potential security exploits”, said Apple spokesman Fred Sainz in a statement. “The company sells only to authorized governmental agencies, and fully complies with strict export control laws and regulations”, a spokesperson told The New York Times. “Specifically, the products may only be used for the prevention and investigation of crimes”.
