Project Pegasus and cyberattacks: Apple condemns and reassures

Last Sunday, we learned of the existence of various surveillance projects underway on tens of thousands of phones, iPhones and Androids. Journalists, lawyers, diplomats and government officials have been spied on in this context thanks tosoftware called Pegasus and developed by the Israelis of the NSO Group.

The revelations are surprising given the global scale of surveillance, but also given the quantity of information that Pegasus can collect from an infected smartphone: contacts, normally encrypted conversations (Signal, WhatsApp), messages, passwords, geolocated position. Pegasus can even remotely activate the device's microphone and/or camera...

Apple and Google therefore now have their work cut out for them in trying to understand and, above all, correct the flaw that allowed the NSO Group to develop such an effective hacking solution.

We were also awaiting the reaction of the Californian giant on this subject. It took place a few hours ago. Here it is:

“Apple unequivocally condemns cyberattacks against journalists, human rights activists, and others seeking to make the world a better place. For over a decade, Apple has led the industry in security innovation and, as a result, security researchers agree iPhone is the safest, most secure consumer mobile device on the market.

Attacks like the ones described are highly sophisticated, cost millions of dollars to develop, often have a short shelf life, and are used to target specific individuals. While that means they are not a threat to the overwhelming majority of our users, we continue to work tirelessly to defend all our customers, and we are constantly adding new protections for their devices and data.”

And the French translation:

“Apple unequivocally condemns any cyberattacks against journalists, human rights activists, and all those who seek to make the world a better place. For over 10 years, Apple has been a leader in security and, as a result, security researchers agree that the iPhone is the safest and most secure mobile device available on the market today.

Attacks like those described in recent days are highly sophisticated. Their development must have cost several million dollars. While their lifespan is in most cases short, with specific individual targets.

While this means this is not a threat to most of our users, we work tirelessly to defend all of our customers and regularly add new protections for our devices and their data.”

Apple therefore wants to be reassuring. Even if the firm is right in asserting that only very specific targets are victims of Pegasus, the fact remains that the operation of the software is scary, with remote installation possible by pirates, without having to manipulate the device directly, and potential deep data aspiration. Especially since to date, there is nothing to indicate that neither iOS 15 nor iOS 14.7 fixes the flaws used by Pegasus.

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.