Developing such attacks is very costly, which suggests the level of resources being thrown into breaking Apple device security. (It’s worth noting that these are the kinds of resources that would also be used to identify and exploit any security backdoors put in place at an operating system level in the event authoritarian surveillance-loving governments get their way.)
That cost certainly doesn’t seem to be a massive turn-off to the highly sophisticated and well-resourced companies profiting from the delivery of digital chaos. Many of these firms, such as NSO Group, have faced international sanctions and lawsuits, which doesn’t seem to have stopped them at all. Meanwhile, many of the exploits they create are sold to repressive governments that use them against journalists, dissidents, political rivals and others. Beyond that, older, patched exploits have reportedly been traded on the dark web, meaning these dangerous attacks can proliferate.
The danger of such attacks should be top of mind for any prominent business executive, as enterprises can be targets, too — particularly as corporate execs jet around the world. Travelers should now carry burner phones with only limited access to important corporate (or personal) data.
