Google researchers have uncovered a malicious campaign that targeted the iPhone for at least two years. According to researchers, this campaign has stopped, though they warn that there may be other ways they have not yet identified.
The security team Project Zero, announced that it had discovered some malicious websites that could be used to infringe on Apple devices, using five different personalized exploits.
Τα exploits χρησιμοποιούσαν 14 διαφορετικές ευπάθειες που κάλυπταν κάθε έκδοση από το iOS 10 μέχρι το iOS 12. Η Apple εξέδωσε μια information με την αναβάθμιση του iOS 12.1.4 τον Φεβρουάριο, αφού οι ερευνητές της ομάδας Project Zero αποκάλυψε τις ευπάθειες και έδωσε στην εταιρεία μία εβδομάδα για να τα επιδιορθώσει.
The Project Zero team usually follows one strict disclosure period of 90 days, but in this case it only gave a week because of the severity of the vulnerabilities.
Google Project Zero team researcher Ian Beer reported:
A simple visit to the site was enough for one attack on your device and if the attack was successful, the device would get a malicious tracking app. We estimate that these websites had thousands of visitors per week.
14 vulnerabilities existed in Safari and the kernel, except for two separate cases of sandbox escapes, where malicious code could run beyond the boundaries of an application.
In short, the 5 exploits gave elevated “root” privileges to the attacker with full rights to install malicious programs and access device files sent every 60 seconds by a command and control server.
But it is more worryingly, the malware also uploaded the device's keychain, which is used to securely store data (eg passwords, Wi-Fi codes, and certificates) from well-known applications such as: WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, Facebook, Viber, Gmail and Outlook.
______________________
- Windows Repair Toolbox: Free Windows Diagnostics and Repair
- Champion worldwide in Cybersecurity Leadership Matrix 2019 or ESET
- Common Voice from Mozilla's anti-racist voice recognition