Apple tackles iPhone one-tap spyware flaws

Flaws in Apple's iOS operating system have been discovered that made it possible to install spyware on a target's device merely by getting them to click on a link.

The discovery was made after a human rights lawyer alerted security researchers to unsolicited text messages he had received.

They discovered three previously unknown flaws within Apple's code.

Apple has since released a software update that addresses the problem.

These posts are old, but still of interest I think:

Meet “badBIOS,” the mysterious Mac and PC malware that jumps airgaps

How Digital Detectives Deciphered Stuxnet, the Most Menacing Malware in History

The first is worrying, the second VERY long. It's going to take me a while to get through it.

Interesting reading Les!

I read the article in the first link and some of the comments near the beginning before leaping to the 16th page of comments. A lot of noise in the comments but the two theories that came out tops for me for infecting usb sticks were malware in firmware and possible bios's made in Far East with the malware built in in such a way that a code dump from the bios doesn't show it. Scary stuff if true but the lack of corroboration gives me some comfort! I also suspect that I am not the most likely target of those producing such malware if it exists though I would need to do some serious research and learning just to discover if my machines were affected - If they were, I suspect I would be having problems with my bank account!

I remember reading years ago, just after USBs started replacing floppies, that some sticks made in China were found to have a virus of some sort in them.
I think it was blamed on just one plant, and "not a government plot".
I wondered at the time how to use one the first time without getting infected, so that the virus could be removed.
In the end I stuck with floppies.

I guess that you'd need some sort of pure hardware, with no ram or programmable stuff, and just use leds to display all of the connections, to see if it started sending signals.

From 2013. Android was also susceptible:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnFdbl8LwHg

Don't Look Now, But You've Been Phone-jacked!
Published on Aug 8, 2013

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