US intelligence has stated that the Chaos iPhone flaw that allows for remote takeover was leveraged by China against the minority ethnic group, the Uyghurs before Apple patched the issue. A Chinese security researcher working at the antivirus company Qihoo 360 allegedly found the complex exploit in 2019, dubbing it Chaos due to its destructive nature. Through utilizing the vulnerability, a remote attacker is able to jailbreak an iPhoneX, gaining access to a victim’s data, processing power, and more.
The exploit makes for an excellent spying tool as the attacker is able to take control of the most up-to-date iPhones and allowing them to snoop through a victim’s messages and passwords or track their location in real-time. According to a report published by MIT technology review, that is exactly what China did. The US has allegedly collected details as to how the Chaos exploit was used to hack China’s Uyghur Muslims in a series of espionage campaigns.
Read More: iPhone Hack Allegedly Used to Spy on China’s Uyghurs
