XAgent, new spyware that affects iPhones with iOS 7 and 8

New threat affecting iPhones in corporate environments discovered. The spyware called 'XAgent' hacks the iOS operating system in its latest versions 7 and 8.

A new threat affecting iPhones has just been discovered by security company Trend Micro. The spyware has been found capable of breaching the iOS operating system in its latest versions 7 and 8.

According to the security company, the malicious application, called .

Trend Micro experts said that the 'malicious' app is capable of transferring text messages, address book, photos, list of installed apps and even logs of active processes on the device. It can also record conversations in the background (without the user realizing it), collect geolocation data (via GPS, the location where the device is located) and know the connectivity status.

To penetrate the iOS system so deeply, the spyware exploits the mechanism for distributing apps in the corporate environment. called 'provisioning', which allows companies and developers to distribute applications to a small group of users without going through the App Store.

We reiterate how important it is to download apps only from the App Store, whose applications are checked by Apple before being added. In fact, 'XAgent' is not found in the App Store, but only in the corporate environment and if it is downloaded from third-party stores: in the latter case, iPhones modified with 'jailbreak' are often at risk because their users download from unofficial virtual stores.