Predator on your smartphone: click, you’re spied!
A few months ago, we told you about the Pegasus scandal, named after spyware developed by NSO Group. We discovered with surprise how much he was easy to wiretap someone on a simple request to this Israeli company who, although ensuring compliance with a certain code of ethics, seemed above all to sell its services to those who could financially afford them. It was then revealed that the phones of journalists, lawyers, and other political figures had been hacked and the story caused a stir. Yet in the shadows and believing himself to be more discreet, Predator, another spyware, ultimately did the same. It is he who is strongly criticized today.
NEW REPORT
Pegasus vs. Predator: Dissident’s Doubly-Infected iPhone Reveals Cytrox Mercenary Spywarehttps://t.co/58G8tpWXkG
– Citizen Lab (@citizenlab) December 16, 2021
The spy who mimed
You also have to put yourself in the shoes of those who want to spy on others! NSO Group being in the crosshairs of the authorities, we have to find an alternative. Predator is one of them. Creation of the company Cytrox, this spyware is also offered to those who have the appropriate wallet in order to spy on anyone. If we talk about him today, it’s because his name appears in a report published jointly by Meta and Citizen Lab, the interdisciplinary laboratory attached to the University of Toronto. And we cannot say that it is praised! These are not as many as 7 spyware groups that have been discovered. Zuckerberg’s company has already announced that it has blocked their access to its social networks and platforms. This fight even led to the deletion of some 1,500 Facebook accounts used to monitor the profiles of victims. It could also result in the sending of a message containing malicious links which, once opened, allowed the hidden installation of spyware. The subterfuges are as numerous as they are ingenious. Note that there are also twenty governments in the list of Cytrox customers: Armenia, Egypt, Greece, Serbia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia …
Citizen Lab Exposes Cytrox as Vendor Behind ‘Predator’ iPhone Spyware https://t.co/aPzhZ2u3em pic.twitter.com/HNFRuJu15p
– CySecurity News (@EHackerNews) December 22, 2021
“Do you have an Instegram account?” “
If what NSO Group offered was already not the best with its Pegasus, the study of Meta and Citizen Lab shows that its competitors are even more vicious and dishonest in the way they operate. Cytrox, for example, has opened a whole bunch of fake sites to trick his victims and make them fall into his net. The problem is that the sites in question exactly mirror the appearance of other well-known ones. Without paying attention, you will end up on Inkedin, Instegram, Twtter and YouTubeWatch. It is simply identity theft and Meta claims to have already succeeded in blocking several hundred domains belonging to Cytrox.
To hack the targeted smartphones, all you have to do is send a link by WhatsApp. One click is enough to infect your device with Predator. Since then, the hacker has access to everything it contains, from his photos to his data, including his camera and his microphone. And if you think you can get rid of it by restarting your phone, it appears that this is not enough After analyzing a sample of the loader of this spyware, it seems indeed that the latter remains active even after restarting the hacked terminal . Yet, even if they are now being blamed, this malware still has a long way to go.
“You no longer have the plague? So we’ll get you some cholera. “
During its investigation, Citizen Lab indeed noticed that many devices hacked by Pegasus were also hacked by Predator. Sometimes at the same time, and others a few weeks after the scandal concerning the first one was revealed. This shows that governments which are used to using this kind of “service” do so with impunity and are in no way afraid to switch from one to the other. We are here quite simply faced with the observation of a reality of ” supply and demand market “. Even when the demand can have fatal consequences in the life of a man or a woman.
” Money has no smell As the story goes, and even less that of death or guilt.
