Android users have been worried about malware threats for years and now iPhone users have similar concerns brewing which are capable of stealing personal data and even their money. The iOS Trojan malware is reportedly designed to gain device access and be able to read messages and other confidential items.
The trojan named GoldPickaxe.iOS has been identified by Group IB’s Threat Intelligence Unit and the threat has been attributed to a Chinese-speaking threat actor who is codenamed GoldFactory. The biggest red flag about this trojan and the threat actor is that the attacks are sourced using AI deep fakes, which means fooling Apple’s Face ID tech to impersonate the owner of the device.
The main objective of the trojan is to steal money and the major alarm for the Group IB team is that the trojan has been present since June 2023 and still out there causing issues.
The agency points out that GoldFactory is targeting iPhone users in the Asia-Pacific region, where the bad actors are operating under the disguise of Thailand and Vietnam banks and even government organisations. It is surely worried about the trojan spreading its wings to target people in other parts of the world, which could be disastrous and hard to contain.
The biggest challenge for Group IB is that the hackers are able to penetrate Apple’s closed security protocols and bypass all the layers to not only infiltrate into the device but steal data without alerting the user.
And before the trojan becomes a global concern, it is advised that mobile users should not install apps from links or mails shared by unknown contacts. Similarly, it is advised not to install apps from TestFlight that is Apple’s app testing platform.
iPhone users tend to have better control over the security of their device so it should be easy to avoid falling for these major trojan attacks.
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