iPhone spyware is everyone’s problem now

(Sam Sabin – Axios) Cybercriminal groups are now using spyware tools once utilized mainly by spies and law enforcement to hack into iPhones, new research shows. Why it matters: Anyone with an iPhone can now be the target of invasive malware that siphons off personal text messages, photos, notes and calendar data. In the last month, researchers at Google, iVerify and Lookout uncovered two campaigns exploiting iPhone vulnerabilities. Earlier this month, Google researchers said they identified a sophisticated iPhone hacking toolkit, called Coruna, originally built for an unnamed government customer that later ended up in the hands of a Chinese cybercriminal group. TechCrunch later reported that defense contractor L3Harris created the spyware for the U.S. government. Hackers deployed Coruna on fake Chinese-language crypto and financial platforms, infecting vulnerable iPhones that visited the sites — no clicks or downloads required. On the same server, researchers said Wednesday they found another iPhone hacking kit, dubbed DarkSword, that can instantly infect iPhones visiting a specific set of websites, including Ukrainian news and government sites, as part of a so-called “watering hole attack.” – iPhone spyware is no longer just for governments