Google experts, of all people, discovered various vulnerabilities in Apple software! What data was spied on?
Why Google of all places? In their Project Zero, the experts describe these exploits (i.e. vulnerabilities) and also explain what kind of project it is:
Project Zero's mission is to make 0-day hard. We often work with other companies to find and report security vulnerabilities, with the ultimate goal of advocating for structural security improvements in popular systems to help protect people everywhere.
The goal of the project is to identify exploits. Google often works with other companies to find and report security vulnerabilities.
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What's up?
Among other things, the attackers are said to have had access to users' photos and contacts and were able to track the users' whereabouts. According to Google researcher Ian Beer, messages from chat services such as WhatsApp, iMessage or Telegram could also be read.
How was it done?
Google's Project Zero researchers found that attacks have been targeting iPhone users in specific communities for at least two years. Apparently it was enough to lure users to prepared websites.
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Who is behind it?
Little effort was made to hide the attacks because the spied data was transmitted unencrypted and included a fixed IP address. It is therefore assumed that inexperienced programmers from a government agency could be behind the attacks.
The fact that the attacks remained hidden for so long could indicate that they took place within a single country. At least this is what IT security expert Jake Williams from Rendition Infosec suspects to Wired magazine.
How did Apple react?
Following a tip from Google, Apple closed the vulnerabilities with the software update to iOS version 12.1.4 in February of this year. Only now is Google publishing the information in a detailed blog entry.
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )