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PEGASUS



PEGASUS

Developed by Israeli Cyber Warfare vendor NSO groups, Pegasus spyware was designed to be installed on phones without actually being in knowledge of target. Pegasus attack has been the most sophisticated smartphone attack till date in cyber-attacks history.
Recently the spyware has targeted 1400 civil right activists, lawyers and journalists across the globe including in India. Pegasus at a time can attack 50 phones in just one go. It is used by many governments to combat in terror related activities.


HOW IT WORKS?
Pegasus used or rather reverse engineered the messaging app Whatsapp and developed a program that copied Whatsapp network traffic to target devices.

Zero Day Attacks
The spyware exploit vulnerable software. They require no interactions from users instead they attack the target in form of calling from unknown numbers and the no. disappeared from the call logs, leaving no records of missed calls.

Spear Phishing Attacks
Attackers create tailor made messages that are sent to specific targets. These messages convey a sense of urgency and contain a link or a document these prompts to be from local news or embassy, opening it leads to installation of spyware on phones.



THE VULNERABILITES IT CREATES
It generally generates 3 types of vulnerabilities in its targeted devices:
  1. CVE-2016-4655: Information leak in Kernel – A kernel base mapping vulnerability that leaks information to the attacker allowing them to calculate the kernel’s location in memory.
  2. CVE-2016-4656: Kernel Memory corruption leads to Jailbreak – 32 and 64 bit iOS kernel-level vulnerabilities that allow the attacker to secretly jailbreak the device and install surveillance software - details in reference.
  3. CVE-2016-4657: Memory corruption in the Webkit – vulnerability in the Safari WebKit that allows the attacker to compromise the device when the user clicks on a link.



HOW IT THREATENS YOUR PRIVACY
It includes reading of text, messages tracking calls, collecting passwords of the target device. It can also remotely activate your camera and microphones to surveil the target and their surroundings.

Interesting to know they survive reboots and themselves factory reset operating systems. They can only be detected by tech experts.
Measures one must take if they believe they have been targeted
·       Stop using device.
·       Log out all accounts unlink from all devices.
·       From different device change all your passwords.
·       Seek digital security advice.



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