iPhone users now face a major Face ID security issue that could steal your money: What we know

Android users have been worried about malware threats for years, and now iPhone users have similar concerns, threats that could steal personal data or even money. iOS Trojan malware is reportedly designed to gain access to a device and be able to read messages and other confidential items.

Group IB’s threat intelligence unit has identified a Trojan named GoldPickaxe.iOS and attributed the threat to a Chinese threat actor codenamed GoldFactory. The biggest red flag for this trojan and the threat actors is that the attack was carried out using artificial intelligence deepfake, which means tricking Apple’s Face ID technology into impersonating the owner of the device.

The main goal of this Trojan is to steal money, and the main alarm from the Group IB team is that this Trojan has been around since June 2023 and is still causing problems.

The agency noted that GoldFactory targeted iPhone users in the Asia-Pacific region, where bad actors operated under the guise of Thai and Vietnamese banks and even government organizations. It certainly worries that the Trojan could spread to attack people in other parts of the world, which could be catastrophic and difficult to contain.

The biggest challenge Group IB faced was that hackers were able to penetrate Apple’s closed security protocols and bypass all layers to not only penetrate the device but also steal data without notifying the user.

Until this Trojan becomes a global concern, mobile users are advised not to install applications through links or emails shared by unknown contacts. Likewise, it is recommended not to install applications from Apple’s application testing platform TestFlight.

iPhone users tend to have better control over their device’s security, so it should be easy to avoid falling for these major Trojan attacks.