Hacking tools sold by a little-known Israeli vendor QuaDream have been used to break into the iPhones of journalists and political opposition figures by silently exploiting Apple’s older iOS 14 operating system, cybersecurity researchers said.
Dustin Volz and Robert McMillan for The Wall Street Journal:
The intrusions are linked to QuaDream Ltd., which markets spyware under the name “Reign,” according to new research published Tuesday by Citizen Lab, a research group at the University of Toronto, and Microsoft Corp.
QuaDream is the latest spyware company to face questions about its software and how it is used. The company’s software essentially granted assailants full surveillance capabilities over a user’s device, including the ability to record phone calls, capture photos and read messages, said Bill Marczak, a researcher with Citizen Lab. QuaDream’s software was as sophisticated as NSO Group’s and took pains to obscure its fingerprints in computer code deployed on infected devices, Mr. Marczak said.
Mr. Marczak and other researchers determined that the attack compromised phones running versions of Apple’s iOS 14 iPhone operating system, which was state-of-the-art between 2020 and 2021, and appeared to be connected with calendar invitations sent to the victims.
Citizen Lab’s analysis found that the attack worked without requiring any user interaction — what is known as a zero-click attack — meaning that victims would be defenseless against it. “There’s nothing the victim has to do” to be infected, Mr. Marczak said.
MacDailyNews Take: Of course, we’re currently on iOS 16.4.1 and Apple last year dealt a devastating blow to mercenary spyware with the release of Lockdown Mode.
“Apple makes the most secure mobile devices on the market. Lockdown Mode is a groundbreaking capability that reflects our unwavering commitment to protecting users from even the rarest, most sophisticated attacks,” said Ivan Krstić, Apple’s head of Security Engineering and Architecture, said in a statement on Wednesday. “While the vast majority of users will never be the victims of highly targeted cyberattacks, we will work tirelessly to protect the small number of users who are. That includes continuing to design defenses specifically for these users, as well as supporting researchers and organizations around the world doing critically important work in exposing mercenary companies that create these digital attacks.”
More about Lockdown Mode here.
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Always the Israeli tech bastards
Hackers of Zion… those who distrust Jewish people sadly get added fodder from these kinds of true tales. It’s a sad situation all around, but let’s face it, every major country has crews of talented hackers, what the Chinese, Russians, North Koreans and Americans get away with is legendary.