Phonandroid Apple will alert you if your iPhone has been hacked by spy software

Apple announces that it has set up a new alert system.The latter aims at attacks such as Pegasus, the spy software that has infected many smartphones.IPhone users will be warned by email and iMessage if they are affected by these attacks.But the firm admits that this type of attack, funded by governments, is very difficult to detect.

Apple decidedly took very badly that Pegasus managed to circumvent the protections of iOS and its iPhone.Despite Tim Cook's statements, saying that iPhone is the highest smartphones in the world, spy software, developed by the Israeli company NSO Group, succeeded in this feat.This has enabled some security agencies, notably American, to spy on ministers (including some French), journalists and activists.

Read also - Pegasus: France would have liked to buy spy malware

Reacting to this massive (and targeted) attack, Apple first filed a complaint against NSO Group, for damages.She will also help Citizen Lab, a group of researchers from the University of Toronto who works on Pegasus.And she paid $ 10 million to research groups that fight against cybersurveillance.But what about users who have so far thought they are protected thanks to iOS?

Apple will alert iPhone users targeted by spy software

Apple has put online a new page of its technical support dedicated to "attacks funded by a state".The Cupertino firm announces the implementation of a new alert system that will warn users when their iPhone is hacking.The notification will be transmitted by iMessage and by email.And it will bear the name "Threat Notification".It is not certain that its content is translated into the language of the user.A banner will also appear if the user connects to the appleid.apple.com site.

Apple adds that its alerts will never ask a user to click on a link or download software, or to provide a password.The firm also recalls the right gestures to reduce attacks as much as possible: keep the system and applications up to date, protect devices with code and double factor identification, use complex and unique passwords for each service, avoid clicking onlinks sent by strangers.

An alert system that is far from perfect ... but that exists!

On this page of technical support, Apple also said that it was very difficult to detect this type of attack.The firm explains this by the very nature of the software that is used: it is spy software that must go around security and not be spotted by the system."The detection of such attacks depends on signs of threat based on intelligence which are often imperfect and incomplete," we can read.Apple also confirms that false positives can also generate an alert.A system that is far from perfect ... but which still has the advantage of existing.

Source: Apple