Exodus comes to iOS as well. Security researchers have discovered iPhone spyware made to spy on Italian users. Here’s how it works
Exodus is back to strike. The spyware made by an Italian software house, present in more than 20 applications in the Play Store, shows up again at our latitudes. As researchers at Lookout, a software house active in the field of smartphone security, discovered, applications developed by Connexxa and behaving very similarly to Exodus have infected hundreds of iPhones.
It almost exclusively affected Italian users, who were tricked into downloading the infected apps using a tried and tested phishing scheme. Unable to upload the spyware to the App Store (controls on iPhone apps are stricter than on Android apps), the hackers spread the spyware through fake ads and ad-hoc websites. Specifically, the iPhone spyware app was disguised as a telecom utility: by installing it, users could directly contact the technical support of TIM, Vodafone, 3 and Fastweb (obviously unaware of it). As you can well imagine, these are just false promises.
What the iPhone spy app does
Once installed, the Connexxa app was able to literally take control of the iPhone, having access to all the information stored in its memory and more. The iPhone spy app is able to access the phonebook, make environmental recordings with the microphone, take photos and videos and the exact location of the user.
How to defend yourself against infected spy apps
As mentioned, the installation of spy apps on the iPhone goes through a phishing scheme: to avoid installing malware, therefore, just implement those strategies that protect you from phishing attacks and you’re done. For example, avoid downloading and downloading apps that are not present in the App Store; least of all if suggested by banner ads or sites with strange URLs. And don’t forget that technical support from telecom operators can only be reached through their official apps.