Apple releases update to fix flaw linked to Pegasus spyware

Apple has released a software update to fix a weakness that researchers warned was being exploited by spyware from the Israeli company at the heart of the Pegasus scandal, AFP reported.

The NSO Group has been at the center of a storm after an international media investigation claimed its Pegasus software was used to spy on the phones of human rights activists, journalists and even heads of state.

Apple and cyber security specialists on Monday urged owners of iPhones and other devices powered by iOS software to install a software patch.

Researchers at Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog organization in Canada, found the problem while analyzing a Saudi activist’s phone that had been infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.

“We determined that the mercenary spyware company NSO Group used the vulnerability to remotely exploit and infect the latest Apple devices with the Pegasus spyware,” Citizen Lab wrote in a post.

Citizen Lab said that in March it examined the activist’s phone and determined it had been hacked with Pegasus spyware via the iMessage texting software.

“Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited,” the tech giant said in a post about the security update.

Citizen Lab expressed confidence that the hack was the work of NSO Group.

“Selling technology to governments that will use the technology recklessly in violation of international human rights law ultimately facilitates discovery of the spyware by investigatory watchdog organizations, as we and others have shown on multiple prior occasions, and as was the case again here.” Citizen Lab said.

Apple and NSO did not immediately reply to requests for comment.