Apple is hitting back against a report claiming that a flaw in its iOS email app may have compromised its famously hard-to-hack iPhones for years.
Apple said in a Friday statement to The Post that it has found “no evidence” to back up the report earlier this week from cybersecurity company ZecOps, which claimed hackers have found a new way to gain access to targets’ phones by simply sending them an email.
“Apple takes all reports of security threats seriously,” a spokesman for the $1.2 trillion company said, adding that it has found no evidence any customers have fallen victim to the security flaw.
“We have thoroughly investigated the researcher’s report and, based on the information provided, have concluded that these issues do not pose an immediate risk to our users,” Apple said.
ZecOps’ report said that the new sophisticated intrusion technique sees a bug triggered when the email app automatically downloads a message’s data, without the recipient having to do anything at all. The report claimed that targets of novel hacking method included employees of a Japanese telecom company, tech companies in Saudi Arabia and Israel as well as a “large North American firm.”
The malware is “virtually undetectable” by users, according to ZecOps, which said that it reached its conclusion after analyzing “digital clues left after an attack within the iPhone’s operating system.” It wasn’t able to get the actual malware because the emails had been deleted.
Apple said that the weaknesses identified by the researchers were “insufficient to bypass iPhone and iPad security protections,” but added that the “potential issues” would be addressed in an upcoming software update, and that it would credit ZecOps for its assistance.
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