{"id":473167,"date":"2022-12-08T13:13:01","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T11:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=473167"},"modified":"2022-12-08T13:16:15","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T11:16:15","slug":"apple-adds-anti-eavesdropping-feature-to-imessage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/473167-apple-adds-anti-eavesdropping-feature-to-imessage.html","title":{"rendered":"Apple adds anti-eavesdropping feature to iMessage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple says<\/a><\/strong> its iMessage Contact Key Verification feature will let people facing “face extraordinary digital threats” like activists, politicians, and journalists ensure that no one is eavesdropping on their conversations.<\/p>\n

The Cupertino-based tech giant explained that conversations between two iMessage users with the feature enabled would automatically alert the users if an “exceptionally advanced adversary” has access to the chat.<\/p>\n

Apple says iMessage Contact Key Verification will also let users compare a Contact Verification Code in person, on FaceTime, or through a secure call.<\/p>\n

While the feature may seem like overkill for some, attackers have targeted journalists, activists, and politicians through their iPhones in the past.<\/p>\n

In August 2021, an updated version of the Pegasus spyware, deployed by the NSO Group, was found on a Bahraini activist’s iPhone<\/a><\/strong>. It was determined to have been on the device since February of the same year.<\/p>\n

The device was running iOS 14, and according to Citizen Labs, the updated Pegasus hack uses a “zero-click” attack that does not require user interaction.<\/p>\n

The spyware could bypass Apple’s BlastDoor security feature in all iOS 14 versions, an aspect designed to stave off these hacks.<\/p>\n

In July 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s phone number<\/a><\/strong> appeared in a leaked database of potential targets of the Pegasus spyware.<\/p>\n

The leaked list was believed to include persons of interest to the government clients of the NSO Group.<\/p>\n

The Guardian reported that Cyril Ramaphosa’s number appeared to have been selected by Rwanda in 2019.<\/p>\n

While Rwandan authorities denied that they had access to NSO Group technology, they have long been suspected of being a client of the spyware firm.<\/p>\n

\n

Now read: Hacking teams exploit Samsung Galaxy S22 zero-day twice \u2014 win R1.3 million<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The feature will alert users if someone is eavesdropping on their iMessage conversation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":473171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,17934],"tags":[605,8883,83195,691,1125],"class_list":["post-473167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","category-smartphones","tag-apple","tag-imessage","tag-imessage-contact-key-verification","tag-ios","tag-iphone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":473263,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473167\/revisions\/473263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}