The Apple Inc. logo is seen at the entrance to the Apple store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York, United States REUTERS/Mike Segar/File photo
Researchers at digital surveillance group Citizen Lab said Thursday they discovered spyware linked to Israeli company NSO that exploited a recently discovered flaw in Apple devices.
Upon inspection of the Apple device of an employee of a Washington-based civil society group last week, Citizen Lab said it discovered the flaw had been used to infect the device with the spyware NSO’s Pegasus, it said in a statement.
“This shows that civil society is once again serving as an early warning system against really sophisticated attacks,” said John Scott-Railton, a senior fellow at Citizen Lab, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy in the University of Toronto.
Citizen Lab did not provide further details about the person concerned or the organization.
The flaw allowed iPhones running the latest version of iOS (16.6) to be compromised without any interaction from the victim, the digital watchdog said.
Apple has released new updates to its devices after investigating the flaws reported by Citizen Lab. An Apple spokesperson said it had no further comment, while Citizen Lab urged consumers to update their devices.
An NSO spokesperson said he had no immediate comment on the Citizen Lab research.
The Israeli company has been blacklisted by the US government since 2021 for alleged abuses, including surveillance of government officials and journalists.
Your subscription could not be saved. Try Again.
Your subscription was successful.
Read next
To subscribe to MORE APPLICANT to access The Philippine Daily Inquirer and over 70 other titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am and share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
For comments, complaints or inquiries, Contact us.
