The Pegasus creator NSO Group is now facing competition from a little-known spyware company called Intellexa, which is charging $8 million for its services to hack into Android and iOS devices.
Vx-underground, a distributor of malware source code, discovered documents that represented a proposal from Intellexa, a company that provides services like Android and iOS device exploits. On Wednesday, it shared several screenshots of documents that appeared to be part of an Intellexa business proposal on Twitter.
Europe is the base of Intellexa, which has six locations and R&D facilities there. According to a statement on the company's website, "We help law enforcement and intelligence organizations across the world reduce the digital gap with many and diverse solutions, all integrated with our unique and best-in-class Nebula platform."
A Greek politician was the target of Intellexa, a Cytrox iPhone predator spyware program, according to a Citizen Lab study from last year.
The Intellexa Alliance, which Citizen Lab defined as "a marketing term for a range of mercenary surveillance companies that emerged in 2019," included Cytrox, according to Citizen Lab.
Spyware threat
The product specifically focuses on remote, one-click browser-based exploits that let users inject a payload into iOS or Android mobile devices. According to the brief explanation, in order for the exploit to be used, the victim must click on a link.
The docs, "classified as proprietary and confidential," according to Security Week, confirmed that the exploits should function on iOS 15.4.1 and the most recent Android 12 upgrade." The fact that Apple released iOS 15.4.1 in March indicates that the offer is current.
The deal gives a "magazine of 100 active infections" in addition to 10 concurrent infections for iOS and Android devices. A sample list of Android devices that an attack would allegedly be effective against is also displayed in the stolen documents.
Last year, Apple sued NSO Group to prevent the business from using its products and services. It implies that the offer is relatively new. Since then, three security patches for the mobile operating system have been released.
This indicates that Apple might have addressed one or more of the zero-day vulnerabilities utilized by the Intellexa iOS attack, but it's also feasible that the exploits provided by these kinds of businesses could stay unpatched for a considerable amount of time.
The buyer would actually receive considerably more for the $8 million, despite the fact that some have claimed that this is the cost of an iOS hack. The offer is for a whole platform with a 12-month guarantee and the ability to evaluate the data obtained by the exploits.
The documents are undated, but according to vx-underground, the screenshots were published on the hacker forum XSS in Russian on July 14. While there is a wealth of technical knowledge available about the exploits provided by spyware companies, nothing is known regarding the prices they charge clients.
According to a 2019 estimate from India's Economic Times, a Pegasus license costs about $7-8 million each year. Additionally, it is well-known that brokers of exploits are willing to pay up to $2 million for fully automated iOS and Android flaws.
