Recently, TechnologyReview magazine revealed a funny deal. There is talk of an iOS flaw sold by an American firm specializing in cybersecurity for $1.3 million in 2016 in the United Arab Emirates.
The country took the opportunity to spy on various targets equipped with iPhones for many months, the flaw not having been corrected until around 2017. Among the people tracked, there were activists, diplomats, but also leaders of other Middle Eastern countries.
To take advantage of the iOS breach, you had to use a tool calledKarma. Deploying the latter on an iPhone did not require any action from the user. Once active, Karma allowed you tocollect photos, emails, text messages, geolocation information and even passwords from iPhone.
Karma is reminiscentPegasus, another spyware that has made a lot of noise recently, highlighted by the Forbidden Stories organization. Pegasus has enabled governments to monitor thousands of senior politicians, journalists, activists and other targets in dozens of countries around the world, including France. Pegasus would have beenmade inactive thanks to iOS 14.8 released last week.
Regarding Karma, the source reveals that its purchase by the United Arab Emirates was made possible thanks to three American mercenaries, specialists in cybersecurity. The trio has since been convicted across the Atlantic for computer fraud. The trial concluded with a financial settlement. They had to pay 1.6 million dollars to the American Department of Justice to leave free, despite everything being banned from working in the future in their favorite field: computer security.
i-nfo.fr - Official iPhon.fr app
By : Keleops AG
Editor-in-chief for iPhon.fr. Pierre is like Indiana Jones, looking for the lost iOS trick. Also a long-time Mac user, Apple devices hold no secrets for him. Contact: pierre[a]iphon.fr.
