Possible US Government iPhone Hacking Tool Leaked

Security researchers have discovered 'Coruna,' a sophisticated iPhone hacking toolkit allegedly developed by US government contractor L3Harris's Trenchant division. The toolkit exploits 23 distinct iOS vulnerabilities across five complete attack techniques, enabling silent malware installation via malicious websites. The tool, bearing hallmarks of US government cyberweapons, has reportedly been sold to the Russian government by a L3Harris employee. This represents a significant supply chain compromise of nation-state surveillance technology. Organizations with high-value iPhone users should enforce strict mobile device management policies, restrict website access, and apply iOS patches immediately upon release. The tool's availability to both state adversaries and cybercriminals dramatically expands the threat landscape.

Wired writes (alternate source ): Security researchers at Google on Tuesday released a report describing what they’re calling “Coruna,” a highly sophisticated iPhone hacking toolkit that includes five complete hacking techniques capable of bypassing all the defenses of an iPhone to silently install malware on a device when it visits a website containing the exploitation code. In total, Coruna takes advantage of 23 distinct vulnerabilities in iOS, a rare collection of hacking components that suggests it was created by a well-resourced, likely state-sponsored group of hackers...

Security researchers have discovered 'Coruna,' a sophisticated iPhone hacking toolkit allegedly developed by US government contractor L3Harris's Trenchant division. The toolkit exploits 23 distinct iOS vulnerabilities across five complete attack techniques, enabling silent malware installation via malicious websites. The tool, bearing hallmarks of US government cyberweapons, has reportedly been sold to the Russian government by a L3Harris employee. This represents a significant supply chain compromise of nation-state surveillance technology. Organizations with high-value iPhone users should enforce strict mobile device management policies, restrict website access, and apply iOS patches immediately upon release. The tool's availability to both state adversaries and cybercriminals dramatically expands the threat landscape. Wired writes (alternate source ): Security researchers at Google on Tuesday released a report describing what they’re calling “Coruna,” a highly sophisticated iPhone hacking toolkit that includes five complete hacking techniques capable of bypassing all the defenses of an iPhone to silently install malware on a device when it visits a website containing the exploitation code. In total, Coruna takes advantage of 23 distinct vulnerabilities in iOS, a rare collection of hacking components that suggests it was created by a well-resourced, likely state-sponsored group of hackers... Wired writes (alternate source ): Security researchers at Google on Tuesday released a report describing what they’re calling “Coruna,” a highly sophisticated iPhone hacking toolkit that includes five complete hacking techniques capable of bypassing all the defenses of an iPhone to silently install malware on a device when it visits a website containing the exploitation code. In total, Coruna takes advantage of 23 distinct vulnerabilities in iOS, a rare collection of hacking components that suggests it was created by a well-resourced, likely state-sponsored group of hackers. […] Coruna’s code also appears to have been originally written by English-speaking coders, notes iVerify’s cofounder Rocky Cole. “It’s highly sophisticated, took millions of dollars to develop, and it bears the hallmarks of other modules that have been publicly attributed to the US government,” Cole tells WIRED. “This is the first example we’ve seen of very likely US government tools­based on what the code is telling us­spinning out of control and being used by both our adversaries and cybercriminal groups.” TechCrunch reports that Coruna is definitely of US origin: Two former employees of government contractor L3Harris told TechCrunch that Coruna was, at least in part, developed by the company’s hacking and surveillance tech division, Trenchant. The two former employees both had knowledge of the company’s iPhone hacking tools. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk about their work for the company. It’s always super interesting to see what malware looks like when it’s created through a professional software development process. And the TechCrunch article has some speculation as to how the US lost control of it. It seems that an employee of L3Harris’s surviellance tech division, Trenchant, sold it to the Russian government.