After the Israeli spyware Pegasus, which has been on the agenda with different developments recently, but has actually existed since 2016, a new Israeli software is on the agenda. Although Pegasus spyware, which is seen as one of the biggest cyber threats to date, has been mentioned with the claims that it will be ‘disabled’ recently, it seems that new spyware has already emerged to replace it.
It is generally thought that for someone to access your data, you have to click on a link sent to you. However, this is not the case. In software such as Pegasus spyware, it is sufficient for the person to be at a certain distance from you and to know your phone number in order to access your data.
iPhone users targeted by new spyware
Developed by an Israeli company called NSO Group, Pegasus spyware was seen as one of the biggest cyber threats faced today. The software could access all the information inside your device, down to your camera and microphone. It was claimed that the new spyware was developed by a smaller company called QuDream, also from Israel, and that the company sold this spyware to the governments.
Using the spy software called Reign, QuaDream can track correspondence made over applications such as Whatsapp and Telegram, and record phone calls live. Again, as with Pegasus spyware, Reign can access your cameras and microphone. The package of the QuaDream company, which was allowed to infiltrate 50 phones in 2019, was sold for $ 2.2 million.
Both spyware can access your data without needing you to click any link or reply to a message. The technique called ‘zero-click’ is a rather complicated technique that can provide remote access to your data. Using this technique, both companies managed to infiltrate the spyware into phones using the vulnerability in Apple’s instant messaging applications.
Apple announced that it disabled both spyware with an update, and in November it sued NSO Group, which developed the Pegasus spyware, for violating user agreements. NSO Group, on the other hand, says that they do not have any cooperation with QuaDream and that they have not made any mistakes.