Researchers Link DragonEgg Android Spyware to LightSpy iOS Surveillanceware
Oct 04, 2023
Mobile Security / Spyware
New findings have identified connections between an Android spyware called DragonEgg and another sophisticated modular iOS surveillanceware tool named LightSpy . DragonEgg , alongside WyrmSpy (aka AndroidControl), was first disclosed by Lookout in July 2023 as a strain of malware capable of gathering sensitive data from Android devices. It was attributed to the Chinese nation-state group APT41. On the other hand, details about LightSpy came to light in March 2020 as part of a campaign dubbed Operation Poisoned News in which Apple iPhone users in Hong Kong were targeted with watering hole attacks to install the spyware. Now, according to Dutch mobile security firm ThreatFabric, DragonEgg attack chains involve the use of a trojanized Telegram app that's designed to download a second-stage payload (smallmload.jar), which, in turn, is configured to download a third component codenamed Core. Further analysis of the artifacts has revealed that the Android varian...