Apple fixes flaw exploited by Israeli firm’s Pegasus spyware - Aljazeera.com

Sep 13, 2021

The flaw, disclosed Monday by Citizen Lab, allowed a hacker using NSO’s malware Pegasus to gain access to a device owned by a Saudi activist, according to security researchers.

said it patched a security flaw in the Messages app after security researchers determined that Israel-based NSO Group used it to “exploit and infect” the latest devices with spyware.

The flaw, disclosed Monday by Citizen Lab, allowed a hacker using NSO’s Pegasus malware to gain access to a device owned by an unnamed Saudi activist, according to security researchers.

In its report Monday, Citizen Lab accused NSO Group of facilitating “despotism-as-a-service for unaccountable government security agencies” and argued that regulation is “desperately needed.”.

In December, Citizen Lab reported that NSO spyware was used to target the devices of 36 Al Jazeera employees.

The hack in 2020 is similar to the one disclosed Monday because it didn’t require the victim to click on a malicious link, meaning there is no way to defend from the hack.