09/14/2021

iPhone Users: Apple's iOS 14.8 Pegasus Security Fix

Apple users are urged to update immediately

Apple on Monday released security updates for its iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac computers that close a vulnerability reportedly exploited by invasive spyware built by NSO Group, an Israeli security company. 

The tech giant's security note for iOS 14.8 and iPadOS 14.8 says: "Processing a maliciously crafted PDF may lead to arbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited." Apple also released WatchOS 7.6.2, MacOS Big Sur 11.6 and a security update for MacOS Catalina to address the vulnerability. 

The fix, earlier reported by The New York Times, stems from research done by The Citizen Lab, a public interest cybersecurity group that found a Saudi activist's phone had been infected with Pegasus, NSO Group's best-known product. According to Citizen Lab, the zero-day zero-click exploit against iMessage, which it nicknamed ForcedEntry, targets Apple's image rendering library and was effective against the company's iPhones, laptops and Apple Watches. 

Please select this link to read the complete article from C|Net.