Discovering some malware in your phone can be stressful because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up putting your personal privacy at risk, and the best thing to do is to just switch off your phone. However, with Apple adding some new features in their latest phones starting in 2018, phones tend to have components that continue to draw power even if the phone itself is off.
The benefit of having these features is that you can find your phone if you lose it and it hasn’t been turned on yet, but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that it can let this new malware track you at all times. The malware in question was developed as a research project by Darmstadt based researchers, and it takes advantage of Apple’s specific low power mode which keeps Bluetooth chips, NFCs and some other features active regardless of if your phone is on or off.
The firmware that governs the Bluetooth chip is a main focus of this malware, and the study tried to understand how vulnerable it is. It turns out that the vulnerability of these chips is very high indeed with all things having been considered and taken into account, but in spite of the fact that this is the case Apple does not seem to have come up with any solutions for the gaping hole in its phone security.
While this malware has not been spotted in the wild, it’s only a matter of time before malicious actors follow the same logic that these researchers did and come up with a similar malware independently. Our phones are at more risk than ever thanks to our need to have them on at all times to some extent, and it is high time that companies like Apple start plugging these holes. User security is the most important thing for tech companies to focus on because without it there is no safe way for them to use their products.
Read next: This Report Shows How 2 out of 3 Cyber Security Professionals Are More Stressed Out Than Ever
The benefit of having these features is that you can find your phone if you lose it and it hasn’t been turned on yet, but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that it can let this new malware track you at all times. The malware in question was developed as a research project by Darmstadt based researchers, and it takes advantage of Apple’s specific low power mode which keeps Bluetooth chips, NFCs and some other features active regardless of if your phone is on or off.
The firmware that governs the Bluetooth chip is a main focus of this malware, and the study tried to understand how vulnerable it is. It turns out that the vulnerability of these chips is very high indeed with all things having been considered and taken into account, but in spite of the fact that this is the case Apple does not seem to have come up with any solutions for the gaping hole in its phone security.
While this malware has not been spotted in the wild, it’s only a matter of time before malicious actors follow the same logic that these researchers did and come up with a similar malware independently. Our phones are at more risk than ever thanks to our need to have them on at all times to some extent, and it is high time that companies like Apple start plugging these holes. User security is the most important thing for tech companies to focus on because without it there is no safe way for them to use their products.
Read next: This Report Shows How 2 out of 3 Cyber Security Professionals Are More Stressed Out Than Ever
