SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 14, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Apple users were urged Tuesday to 
update their devices after the tech giant announced a fix for a major 
software flaw that allows the Pegasus spyware to be installed on phones 
without so much as a click. 

   Cyber security experts at the Citizen Lab, a research centre at the 
University of Toronto, uncovered the flaw while analyzing the phone of a 
Saudi activist. 

   That person is among tens of thousands believed to have been targeted with 
the Israeli-made Pegasus software, which according to media reports has been 
used worldwide to intercept the communications of activists, journalists and 
even heads of state. 

   Apple said Monday that it had "rapidly" developed a software update after 
Citizen Lab alerted it to the hole in its iMessage software on September 7. 

   "Attacks like the ones described are highly sophisticated, cost millions 
of dollars to develop, often have a short shelf life, and are used to target 
specific individuals," the company said. 

   Citizen Lab said it was urging people "to immediately update all Apple 
devices". 

   - Intimate surveillance - Explosive revelations that governments have 
spied on people using the hugely invasive software -- which was developed by 
the NSO Group, a secretive Israeli firm -- have ricocheted around the world 
since July. 

   Once Pegasus is installed on a phone, it can be used to read a target's 
messages, look at their photos, track their movements and even switch on 
their camera -- all without the person knowing. 

   The flaw fixed by Apple on Monday is a so-called "zero-click exploit", 
meaning that it can be installed on a device without the owner needing to do 
so much as click a button. 

   Less sophisticated spyware tools have generally required the target to 
click on a booby-trapped link or file in order to start tapping the person's 
communications. 

   Citizen Lab said it believed the flaw, which it named FORCEDENTRY, had 
been used to install Pegasus on devices since February 2021 or possibly 
earlier. It is a variant of a weak spot in Apple's messaging software that 
Citizen Lab previously detected on the iPhones of nine Bahraini activists, 
who were hacked with Pegasus between June 2020 and February this year. 

   "Popular chat apps are the soft underbelly of device security. They are on 
every device," tweeted John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab 
who helped uncover the flaw. 

   The messaging service WhatsApp was previously also allegedly used to 
infiltrate phones using Pegasus, and its owner Facebook is suing the NSO 
Group. 

   The security of messaging apps "needs to be a top priority," Scott-Railton 
added, urging his followers: "UPDATE YOUR APPLE DEVICES NOW." 

   - 'Fighting crime' - 

   NSO, the company at the heart of the scandal, has denied any wrongdoing 
and insisted its software is intended for use by authorities only in fighting 
terrorism and other crimes. 

   But the company, which says it has clients in 45 countries, did not 
dispute that Pegasus had prompted Apple's urgent software upgrade. 

   It said in a statement that it would "continue to provide intelligence and 
law enforcement agencies around the world with life saving technologies to 
fight terror and crime." 

   Citizen Lab, which first uncovered Pegasus alongside cybersecurity firm 
Lookout five years ago, accuses NSO of selling the software to authoritarian 
governments that use it for repressive purposes. 

   Emerging economies such as India, Mexico and Azerbaijan dominated the list 
of countries where large numbers of phone numbers were allegedly identified 
as possible targets by NSO's clients. 

   Since July, the scandal has prompted calls from rights groups for an 
international moratorium on the sale of surveillance technology until 
regulations are put in place to prevent abuses. 

   That call was backed by United Nations human rights experts last month. 

   "It is highly dangerous and irresponsible to allow the surveillance 
technology and trade sector to operate as a human rights-free zone," they 
said. 

   Israel's defense establishment has meanwhile set up a committee to review 
NSO's business, including the process through which export licences are 
granted.