Kaspersky Lab described a new version of the FinSpy spy program - as before, it collects information from the gadget’s memory, such as correspondence, contacts, files and programs, but now FinSpy is also taught to read chats, including secret ones, in Telegram messengers , WhatsApp, Signal and Threema on gadgets with older versions of iOS.

The new version of FinSpy sees correspondence, collects data from it, forwards it to attackers, but cannot participate in the chat, for example, delete messages, explains a Kaspersky Lab representative.

The new version that Kaspersky Lab examined, he continues, is from the summer of 2018, it can only be installed on an iPhone or iPad with iOS version 11 and lower. But this is due to the fact that at the time of the Laboratory’s research, iOS 12 had not yet been released, a company representative admits. You can install spy software remotely only in cases where the iOS gadget’s firmware has previously been hacked, otherwise you need physical access to the Apple gadget.

On Android, FinSpy could read correspondence, including encrypted ones, and in its previous version - in the updated update, encrypted chats in Threema, Signal, BlackBerry Messenger and InstaMessage became available to the software for the first time. You can install FinSpy on an Android device if you have physical access to it or if you are using an outdated version of Android. They can infect it via SMS, email or push notification, says a Kaspersky Lab representative.

FinSpy is often used for targeted espionage; the program was first described in WikiLeaks in 2011. Each malicious sample of FinSpy can be customized for a specific victim or group of victims, warns Kaspersky Lab; over the past year, FinSpy has infected several dozen mobile devices, but the true prevalence spyware and the damage caused by the latest version of FinSpy, the company representative could not describe.

FinSpy is software from the German company Gamma Group, distributed through its subsidiary Gamma International, including to governments and law enforcement agencies, writes Kaspersky Lab. The same Gamma International distributed FinFisher, another software for monitoring the actions of users on the Internet. In 2014, WikiLeaks posted samples of FinFisher modules, explaining the publication with a desire to help the IT community create means of protection against this software.

Vedomosti is awaiting comments from representatives of the messengers.

Spyware has learned to read secret chats on iOS devices