Google claims hackers implanted monitors on iPhones for years
Google researchers said hackers had been using compromised websites and software flaws to install “monitoring implants” on Apple iPhones for years.
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Simply by clicking on the malicious websites, the hackers would be able to gather users’ images and contacts from their iPhones. Hackers could access user’s apps, including Instagram, WhatsApp and Gmail.
Ian Beer, from Google’s Project Zero, said in a blogpost that the hacked sites had received thousands of visitors each week.
Beer said: “There was no target discrimination: simply visiting the hacked site was enough for the exploit server to attack your device, and if it was successful, to install a monitoring implant.”
He said the websites had been hacking iPhones over a “period of at least two years.”
Project Zero, whose focus was on identifying security flaws, found that most of those were found within the Safari browser on Apple devices.
Beer added: “Given the breadth of information stolen, the attackers may nevertheless be able to maintain persistent access to various accounts and services by using the stolen authentication tokens from the keychain, even after they lose access to the device.”