Researchers at digital watchdog group Citizen Lab said Thursday they have found spyware linked to Israeli firm NSO that took advantage of a newly discovered flaw in Apple devices.
An employee of Citizen Lab, a Washington-based civil society group, inspects an Apple device last week Said It was found that this flaw was used to infect the device with NSO’s Pegasus spyware, it said in a statement.
“This shows that civil society is once again really acting as an early warning system about sophisticated attacks,” said Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott-Railton, who is also at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Located in Affairs and Public Policy.
Citizen Lab did not provide further details about the affected individuals or organizations.
The digital watchdog said the flaw made it possible to compromise an iPhone running the latest version of iOS (16.6) without any interaction from the victim.
Apple released new updates to its devices after investigating the flaws reported by Citizen Lab. An Apple spokesperson said it had no further comment, while Citizen Lab urged consumers to update their devices.
An NSO spokesperson said it had no immediate comment on the Citizen Lab research.
Israeli firm has been blacklisted Since 2021 by the US government for alleged abuses, including surveillance of government officials and journalists.
