the vulnerability came to light thanks to human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor from the United Arab Emirates. He received a message with a link from an unknown number. Mansoor did not trust it and sent it to an investigator. Who discovered the message that led to malware. The malware exploited three critical vulnerabilities in iOS. The attackers could gain complete control over Mansoors iPhone. Apple was warned and quickly composed the leak.

It is not known who had sent the message. The spyware is made by a small Israeli company, the NSO Group.

The leaks were used since iOS 7 operating system. The NSO clients have thus able to hack up to three years iPhones