Researchers at Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) discovered earlier this year that a number of hacked websites were being used to attack more than a dozen iPhone software vulnerabilities. The campaign captured passwords, messages, photos and location information until Apple patched the vulnerabilities in February. Researchers said thousands of people visited the malicious websites every week. (The Logic)

Talking point: While no exact numbers have been released on the scale of the attack, researchers labelled it an “indiscriminate” and “sustained effort.” Previous cases have been more targeted, such as in 2016, when malware was used against a political dissident in the United Arab Emirates. Thursday’s news shocked analysts, many of whom had long considered Apple’s iOS operating system to be more secure than its rival, Google’s Android. For example, in the first quarter of 2017, 47 in 1,000 Android devices saw app-based threats compared to one in 1,000 iOS devices, according to mobile security company Lookout. It raises further concerns about iPhone users’ privacy and security, following an apology from Apple this week for failing to disclose that its contractors were listening to customers while using the iPhone’s virtual assistant, Siri. Apple has not yet responded to Google’s findings.