Zero-click attacks, as the name suggests, are hacks that do not require any action from the target user in other words, these are attacks that can be executed without the victim carrying out any voluntary action There has been a lot of talk about zero-click attacks recently as a spyware found to be at the heart of a recent hack that targeted thousands of people operated in this manner.
Traditionally, hackers lay out a trap for the potential victim in the form of something like a phishing attack. Here, the victim is tricked into downloading an attachment or clicking on a link that is embedded with malware and initiates the Track
While these attacks require some form of action from the one being attacked – that eventually compromises the system, what makes zero-click attacks more dangerous is the fact that they bypass all these
Zero-day vulnerabilities
This means that zero-click attacks are any cyber attacks that exploit a flaw in the device and work their way into the system. Instead of exploiting human error, these identify potential zero-day vulnerabilities in the Operating System (OS)-flaws that haven’t been identified, and hence are yet to be patched. Any device, be it iOS or Android. Windows or macOS, Can therefore fall prey to such an attack.
The recent attack that made news employed a powerful spyware called Pegasus. Once this spyware entered any device, it was able to install a module that enabled it to track call logs, read mails, messages, browsing history, calendars, and even track location data, before sending it to the attacker. Apart from these abilities, the spyware could also hide intelligently and self-destruct if necessary.
Hard to detect and trace
The fact that these zero-click attacks are currently both hard to detect and near impossible to trace poses serious difficulties as to how we surmount them. The only thing that we can do at the moment is to have the software and apps updated on our devices at all times, and also use only the official marketplaces to install any software.
Picture Credit : Google
