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Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks

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Re: Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a modern smartphone or cellphone the fbi, cia, nsa any nation state can not hack ? I can guarantee you the fbi can also hack a $130 motorolla.

Nothing is un-hackable if you know how to properly use a $5 wrench.

If it required the wrench, it was at least un-hackable enough. Part of the reason for remote hacking is to avoid alerting the hacked party to what's going on, which is obviously failed by the time you're hitting them with a wrench.

Re: Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks

#152
post #96

It's probably far worse with Android users that Google is not disclosing. I'm seriously considering changing to Apple after this. Not that its secure but that they are willing to go to this length to communicate it.

Wait... Apple has the worst security record of any of the FAANG companies and you are switching to them because they admitted a security issue after the fact?

What?

Is this just regular Apple fanboy-ism?

Re: Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks

#153

Note that "mercenary spyware" is the politically correct term Apple chose for "state-sponsored attacker" because Modi complained that Apple was exposing them for using illegal NSO Group spyware.

Well, supreme court ordered panel investigation into this spyware scandal didn't find any evidence of actual spyware. So there's that. Also, if government wants to investigate someone, they have so many powerful ways to do that (and they actually do that). So, it's not clear to me what need they have to go spy on people via NSO tools. And surely, if they were building large datacenters to do massive spying like some…

I'm not sure exactly what part of it you're trying to refute since your comment is kind of all over the place, but GP comment is correct.

The reason it's called that is literally because of the Indian government.

> Apple's removal of the term "state-sponsored" from its description of threat notifications comes after it repeatedly faced pressure from the Indian government on linking such breaches to state actors, said a source with direct knowledge.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/apple-warns...

Re: Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What do these targeted people do then? Switching phones? When you can get a $130 Motorola that has better security... Yes. Since the 2018 iphone crack by the FBI, I am shocked anyone uses their iphone for secrets.

I doubt a 6 year old phone with outdated OS will be more secure than an up to date iPhone

Why are you comparing 6 year old phones?

Re: Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"random college student" I think there's a misunderstanding on what constitutes a valid or ideal target for state sponsored (or "mercenary") attackers. Simply working at a research lab, industrial manufacturer, power station, tech company or knowing a certain professor can put you on a target list.

Well dang I work in a research lab and I didn’t get an email. I’m just going to assume my research is so interesting that they sent the real badasses after me, somebody that Apple can’t catch. The truth is too ego-shattering.

Look to your left. Look to your right.

Both of those people are working for a foreign government.

At least one of them does not know it.

Trust no one.

Re: Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks

#156
post #48
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just out of curiosity why would you have imessage turned off?

Unless things have changed since I last looked, if those you talk to aren't also on iMessage, it feels like a net negative to use as you get inconsistent/negative behavior between contacts. From that end, it becomes sort of a moral issue with the clearly arbitrarily locked gates and poor experiences. So you disable and use a non-malicious and cross platform solution.

Apple is malicious, but Facebook is totally okay?

Re: Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks

#157

There’s a reddit thread by somebody who got one of these: https://old.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/1c10jai/i_have_rece... The interesting thing IMO is they claim to just be some random college student. Which seems believable because if they were a real secret squirrel I guess they wouldn’t ask reddit about it, haha. I wonder if the hackers are targeting people based on phone numbers or something. (I could imagine a c…

"random college student" I think there's a misunderstanding on what constitutes a valid or ideal target for state sponsored (or "mercenary") attackers. Simply working at a research lab, industrial manufacturer, power station, tech company or knowing a certain professor can put you on a target list.

My next question would be "What do your immediate relatives and friends do, or what are they involved with?"

Re: Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks

#158
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That person already got targeted last summer. I doubt they are as uninteresting as they believe/claim to be.

You'd be surprised. A college student in an interesting field is an interesting target. Doesn't mean he's done anything nefarious or even shady. Industrial espionage is a thing.

Why would a college student be an interesting target simply for being a college student in an interesting field? If they work at an interesting company or something like that I would understand, but the knowledge that is accessible in colleges is not some super secret stuff or am I missing something?

Re: Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pet peeve: Misguided pedantry Both “country” and “nation” have a wide variety of definitions, and several of them overlap. The definition you give for “nation” is a particular technical one used in certain contexts, but the word used for the way you define “country” in the context where that kind of technical definition is being used for “nation” is “state”, not “country”. (And even “state” may be used with additiona…

Pet peeve: Not enough pedantry with language use in publications. Nation and country are not interchangeable. Words have meaning. Good journalist choose their words deliberately and have a deeper understand of language than the average person.

Sure, words certainly have meaning, but that meaning is constantly evolving and even differs from person to person.

For the common person and the common definition and use of the two words, they are very much interchangeable. The common person might not even notice the change in words because the generally used definitions of both are common enough.

Re: Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing is un-hackable if you know how to properly use a $5 wrench.

If it required the wrench, it was at least un-hackable enough. Part of the reason for remote hacking is to avoid alerting the hacked party to what's going on, which is obviously failed by the time you're hitting them with a wrench.

At the end of the day, you want the data. Sure, it's much more convenient to get the data from a device, but if you had to get it somewhere else, the data is obtainable.
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