Security experts have warned of the emergence of previously unknown spyware with hacking capabilities similar to NSO Group’s Pegasus, which has already been used to attack journalists, opposition politicians and an NGO worker, reports Guardian.

spywarePhoto: Tero Vesalainen, Dreamstime.com

Researchers at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munch School said spyware produced by an Israeli company called QuaDream infected victims’ phones by sending iCloud calendar invitations to cellphone users from the app’s spyware operators, who are believed to be government clients. . .

Victims were not notified of the invitations as they were sent for events recorded in the past, making them invisible for hacking purposes.

Such attacks are known as “zero-click” attacks, as mobile phone users do not need to click on any malicious links or perform any actions to become infected.

According to Citizen Lab, the hacking tool is sold by QuaDream under the name Reign. The attacks that were detected took place between 2019 and 2021.

The study points out that while NSO Group, maker of one of the world’s most advanced cyber weapons, has faced intense scrutiny and been blacklisted by the Biden administration, likely limiting access to new customers, the threat posed by such cyber attacks and an extremely sophisticated weapon, continues to grow. multiply.

As with NSO’s Pegasus, a phone infected with QuaDream’s Reign client can record conversations happening near the phone, control the phone’s voice recorder, read messages from encrypted apps, eavesdrop on phone conversations, and track the user’s location. Civil laboratory.

The researchers discovered that Reign could also be used to create passwords on iPhones to break into a user’s iCloud account, allowing the spyware operator to obtain data directly from the user’s iCloud.

Read also:

  • Controversial spy company NSO impersonated Facebook to quickly spread its sophisticated monitoring software
  • Mexico’s president denies spying on his opponents with Pegasus software
  • Cellphones of Spain’s prime minister and defense minister tapped by Israeli spying software Pegasus