Cybersecurity researchers from Google’s Threat Intelligence Group and two cybersecurity firms, Lookout and iVerify, have identified a new hacking toolkit this week that makes iPhone owners’ data vulnerable. The toolkit, called DarkSword, differs from other forms of spyware and malware.
DarkSword doesn’t use phishing texts or emails, nor does it require you to download suspicious apps to let hackers into your device. It operates through infected websites, Google’s report says, including ones made to look like Snapchat and government contractor sites. After you’ve browsed those sites, the spyware can be activated, and your information is at risk.
So far, the attacks have been limited to people outside the US, specifically in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia and Ukraine, according to Google.
DarkSword is “highly sophisticated,” Lookout said in its report. It works by “establish[ing] privileged code execution to access sensitive information and exfiltrate it off the device.” DarkSword isn’t designed for ongoing surveillance, but it can
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