NSO Group found new ways to hack Apple iPhones last year: researchers
- Israeli firm used three ‘zero-click’ methods for hacks, research group says
- Apple’s ‘Lockdown Mode’ briefly alerted targeted victims via push notification
The Israeli surveillance technology company NSO Group used at least three methods for breaking into iPhones when targeting members of civil society in 2022, according to a report by the Citizen Lab, a research group at the University of Toronto.
The methods, known as zero-click exploit chains, allows the company to circumvent security features of the Apple phones and install NSO’s “Pegasus” spyware, which can collect information from a device and also use its cameras and microphones for real-time surveillance.
In zero-click hacks, a user doesn’t have to click on a malicious link for the malware to infect a device.
Citizen Lab said the hacking methods were used against devices belonging to members of the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez AC Human Rights Centre, known as Centro Prodh, a Mexican human rights group. A representative for the group couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
An Apple representative said that while the threats outlines by Citizen Lab only impact “a very small number of our customers, “we take any attack on our users extremely seriously and we continue to build more defences into our products”.
An NSO spokesperson said the company “adheres to strict regulation and its technology is used by its governmental customers to fight terror and crime around the world”.