Advanced iPhone Attack 'Operation Triangulation' Exploits Hidden Hardware Feature

Kaspersky researchers warn that hardware-based protections are insufficient against sophisticated attacks that can bypass these protections.

Operation Triangulation, a sophisticated iPhone attack discovered by Kaspersky researchers, used a hidden hardware feature and four vulnerabilities to backdoor the iPhone, making it the most advanced iPhone attack ever seen.
The attack was used by an advanced entity to spy on key political figures and did not target regular users or aim for mass deployment.
Kaspersky researchers found that the attack could extract key data such as microphone recordings, images, location data, and other information from the targeted iPhones.
The attack also impacted other Apple hardware including Macs, iPads, Apple Watches, Apple TVs, and iPods, but Apple has since patched these vulnerabilities.
Despite the patches, Kaspersky warns that advanced hardware-based protections are useless if there are hardware features that can bypass those protections.