Hackers may be attacking iPhones by sending emails that can infect phones without you even opening the email!
According to cybersecurity firm ZecOps, the hackers may have discovered a way to infiltrate iPhones using Apple’s email software.
The flaw was discovered by cybersecurity firm ZecOps and was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
According to the researchers, the flaw allows attackers to send a message containing malicious software that doesn’t need to be clicked on in order to infect a device.
However, the tech giant Apple is yet to respond to this claim. Apple historically tends to have the gold-standard in cybersecurity. And this security flaw is the latest in a string of Apple security issues that have been reported to be discovered in the last year.
According to ZecOps researchers, a security vulnerability is especially sophisticated because it doesn’t require users to click on anything in order for their devices to be infected.
The attackers send emails that install malicious software once Apple’s email reader starts downloading the message and the user doesn’t even need to open the message at all.
As per the Journal’s report, the issue was particularly difficult to detect because the malicious code was contained in the email sent by the attackers, and the emails were either deleted by the user or by the attackers themselves.
Those who use Apple Mail app are more prone to being vulnerable. It primarily affects the latest Iphone software, iOS 13, though ZecOps says the vulnerability has existed since at least iOS 6, which was released in 2012, claims the research report.
The report further adds that the ZecOps was able to identify multiple targets in the attacks, including employees at a Japanese telecommunications firm, a North American company, and tech companies in Saudi Arabia and Israel.