Security News

The Apple iPhones of at least nine US State Department officials were compromised by an unidentified entity using NSO Group's Pegasus spyware, according to a report published Friday by Reuters. NSO Group in an email to The Register said it has blocked an unnamed customers' access to its system upon receiving an inquiry about the incident but has yet to confirm whether its software was involved.

The complaint alleges that the maker of the infamous Pegasus mobile spyware is responsible for the illegal surveillance of Apple users. "In a free society, it is unacceptable to weaponize powerful state-sponsored spyware against those who seek to make the world a better place," said Ivan Krstić, head of apple security engineering and architecture, in an Apple statement, issued Monday.

To prevent further abuse and harm to its users, Apple is also seeking a permanent injunction to ban NSO Group from using any Apple software, services, or devices. NSO Group's Pegasus spyware is favored by totalitarian governments around the world, who use it to hack Apple phones and computers.

Apple has sued NSO Group and its parent company Q Cyber Technologies in a U.S. federal court holding it accountable for illegally targeting users with its Pegasus surveillance tool, marking yet another setback for the Israeli spyware vendor. "State-sponsored actors like the NSO Group spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without effective accountability. That needs to change," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering in a statement.

Apple has filed a lawsuit against Pegasus spyware-maker NSO Group and its parent company for the targeting and spying of Apple users with surveillance tech. NSO's FORCEDENTRY exploit was used by state-backed attackers to break into Apple devices to install the latest version of Pegasus spyware, as revealed by the Citizen Lab in August.

The Israeli cyberweapons arms manufacturer - and human rights violator, and probably war criminal - NSO Group has been added to the US Department of Commerce's trade blacklist. Aside from the obvious difficulties this causes, it'll make it harder for them to buy zero-day vulnerabilities on the open market.

The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday added four companies, including Israel-based spyware companies NSO Group and Candiru, to a list of entities engaging in "Malicious cyber activities." The agency said the two companies were added to the list based on evidence that "These entities developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers."

The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday added four companies, including Israel-based spyware companies NSO Group and Candiru, to a list of entities engaging in "Malicious cyber activities." The agency said the two companies were added to the list based on evidence that "These entities developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers."

The US government's Dept of Commerce on Wednesday sanctioned four companies in Israel, Russia, and Singapore for selling software used to break into computer systems and by foreign governments to suppress dissent. "The United States is committed to aggressively using export controls to hold companies accountable that develop, traffic, or use technologies to conduct malicious activities that threaten the cybersecurity of members of civil society, dissidents, government officials, and organizations here and abroad," said US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in a statement.

The U.S. has sanctioned four companies located in Israel, Russia, and Singapore for the development of spyware or the sale of hacking tools used by state-sponsored hacking groups. Israeli companies NSO Group and Candiru are being sanctioned for creating and selling spyware used to target journalists and activists.