Security News

Apple has released security updates for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and Safari that patch two vulnerabilities that are being exploited in attacks in the wild. Active exploitation of CVE-2021-30860, a integer overflow bug that could be exploited via a maliciously crafted PDF to achieve execution of malicious code on vulnerable devices, was flagged by researchers with The Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Apple on Monday issued security patches for its mobile and desktop operating systems, and for its WebKit browser engine, to address two security flaws, at least one of which was, it is said, used by autocratic governments to spy on human rights advocates. On August 24, 2021, researchers with the organization reported that the iPhones of nine Bahraini activists had been hacked between June 2020 and February 2021 using NSO Group's Pegasus spyware and two zero-click iMessage exploits.

Apple has released iOS 14.8, iPadOS 14.8, watchOS 7.6.2, macOS Big Sur 11.6, and Safari 14.1.2 to fix two actively exploited vulnerabilities, one of which defeated extra security protections built into the operating system. The updates arrive weeks after researchers from the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab revealed details of a zero-day exploit called "FORCEDENTRY" that was weaponized by Israeli surveillance vendor NSO Group and allegedly put to use by the government of Bahrain to install Pegasus spyware on the phones of nine activists in the country since February this year.

Apple has released security updates to fix two zero-day vulnerabilities that have been seen exploited in the wild to attack iPhones and Macs. The CVE-2021-30860 CoreGraphics vulnerability is an integer overflow bug discovered by Citizen Lab that allows threat actors to create malicious PDF documents that execute commands when opened in iOS and macOS. CVE-2021-30858 is a WebKit use after free vulnerability allowing hackers to create maliciously crafted web page that execute commands when visiting them on iPhones and macOS. Apple states that this vulnerability was disclosed anonymously.

Cybersecurity researchers on Tuesday released new findings that reveal a year-long mobile espionage campaign against the Kurdish ethnic group to deploy two Android backdoors that masquerade as legitimate apps. Active since at least March 2020, the attacks leveraged as many as six dedicated Facebook profiles that claimed to provide news, two of which were aimed at Android users while the other four shared pro-Kurd content, only to share spying apps on Facebook public groups.

A never-before-seen, zero-click iMessaging exploit has been allegedly used to illegally spy on Bahraini activists with NSO Group's Pegasus spyware, according to cybersecurity watchdog Citizen Lab.The digital researchers are calling the new iMessaging exploit FORCEDENTRY. In a report published on Tuesday, researchers said that they've identified nine Bahraini activists whose iPhones were inflicted with Pegasus spyware between June 2020 and February 2021.

Digital threat researchers at Citizen Lab have uncovered a new zero-click iMessage exploit used to deploy NSO Group's Pegasus spyware on devices belonging to Bahraini activists. The spyware was deployed on their devices after being compromised using two zero-click iMessage exploits: the 2020 KISMET exploit and a new never-before-seen exploit dubbed FORCEDENTRY. New iPhone zero-click exploit in use since February 2021.

Human rights experts working with the United Nations on Thursday called on countries to pause the sale and transfer of spyware and other surveillance technology until they set rules governing its use, to ensure it won't impinge upon human rights. The experts, speaking out in the wake of new Pegasus spyware revelations, expressed concern that "Highly sophisticated intrusive tools are being used to monitor, intimidate and silence human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents" in some places, the U.N. human rights office said.

A threat actor presumed to be of Chinese origin has been linked to a series of 10 attacks targeting Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Canada, and the U.S. from January to July 2021 that involve the deployment of a remote access trojan on infected systems, according to new research. The group is a "China-nexus cyber espionage actor focused on obtaining information that can provide the Chinese government and state-owned enterprises with political, economic, and military advantages," according to FireEye.

The Oregon state employee pension fund is one of the largest investors, if not the largest, having committed $233 million to Novalpina Capital, the private equity firm, in 2017. Novalpina Capital has been saddled with both an internal dispute among its founding partners and an explosive report showing NSO Group's spyware has been widely misused around the globe.