This is not what you are thinking. It is not a malware scanner on your Apple iPhone and it is for a very specific malware infection.
What it is a multi-platform scanner produced by, the Russian security company, Kaspersky to detect if an iOS device has been infected with ‘Triangulation’ malware. Although research is ongoing into the Triangulation malware it is thought to exploit an unknown flaw in iMessage to execute code without user intervention. The elevated privileges then allows for the further download of malicious packages.
Because of Apple’s varied security devices the scanning is not carried out on the device. The user needs to create a backup of the device and that is then scanned for indicators of compromise.
This type of spyware/malware attack is usually highly targeted to people of special interest such as journalists, activists, researchers and of course politicians using an Apple iPhone. (Although probably all they got from UK politicians were party invites!)
New tool scans iPhones for ‘Triangulation’ malware infection (bleepingcomputer.com)
Your Apple iPhone takeaway from this is:
You and your organisation’ is probably not a target of interest but you should have a policy in place for the use of Apple iPhones and Android phones when used as part of your BYOD plan.
Clive Catton MSc (Cyber Security) – by-line and other articles
One more thing. Bleeping Computer has an interesting paragraph in its report:
It should also be noted that the FSB, Russia’s intelligence and security service, linked the malware to infections of high-ranking government officials and foreign diplomats.
Bill Toulas – Bleeping Computer
