When the Russian company’s security experts got tired of the hacking that had plagued them for the past four years, they launched a thorough investigation into iPhone security. The investigation revealed a serious vulnerability affecting almost all Apple devices.
The information security company Kaspersky found a serious vulnerability in Apple devices, which has reportedly also been used against Russian diplomats. Adobe Stock
In recent years, experts from the information security company Kaspersky have repeatedly fallen prey to exceptionally sophisticated hackers.
Security gurus from Russia’s Kaspersky shared their findings in a report published in the days leading up to Christmas, calling the attack one of the most sophisticated ever.
– This is not an ordinary vulnerability, Kaspersky’s research director Boris Larin states in the bulletin.
According to Larin, the study once again demonstrated that even the most sophisticated hardware-level protections are completely useless if an attacker is skilled enough to bypass them.
Apple patched the vulnerabilities
The complex attack started with a contaminated Imessage message attachment. The attachment was particularly deceptive because it didn’t even have to be opened.
According to Kaspersky researchers, the background of the vulnerability was a previously unknown feature of Apple’s processor chips.
Hackers who gained access to the device with the help of a contaminated attachment were able to exploit four so-called zero-day vulnerabilities to download the device’s microphone recordings, photos, location data and other sensitive data to their own servers.
According to Kaspersky, the vulnerability has affected not only Apple phones but also Mac computers, iPad tablets, iPod music players, Apple Watch smartwatches and even Apple TV media player.
Kaspersky reported the vulnerabilities it discovered to Apple, which patched the holes earlier this year.
Russian authorities blame Apple and the United States
To report on the topic Ars Technica according to the Russian authorities, the vulnerability has been used in the iPhones of up to thousands of Russian diplomats and embassy employees.
Russian data security authorities have blamed Apple and the US National Security Agency, or NSA, for the data security hole. The accusations made news in the summer, among other things The Washington Post. Kaspersky has stated that they have no information about the parties behind the attacks.
Kaspersky urges you to keep the software of all IT devices up to date, as updates often also include patches for information security holes.
Sources: Kaspersky, Ars Technica, The Washington Post