structural:expansion
Pegasus malware

In 2016, researchers discovered the Pegasus suite of exploits targeting iOS and Android, which led to significant international media coverage. Some Pegasus exploits are zero-click, meaning that they can fully compromise the device with no user interaction, for example by sending a malformed iMessage to the user that would not even trigger a notification. Pegasus can collect most data, including chats, passwords, and photos, and can turn on the phone's microphone and camera remotely. Apple quickly issued an update fixing FORCEDENTRY and other known Pegasus exploits, though Pegasus continued to be used, relying on new exploits. Apple also sued NSO, the organization behind Pegasus, announced a new security bounty, and added an optional Lockdown Mode to iOS 16 that reduces the iPhone's attack surface.

Prominent victims of Pegasus include Jamal Khashoggi, and numerous activists, businessmen and politicians. Pegasus has been widely used since 2011, and is still used by law enforcement and governments as of July 2022.