Thanks to improvements in security mechanisms and mitigations, hacking cell phones — both running iOS and Android — has become an expensive endeavor.
Last week, a Russian company that buys zero-days — flaws in software that are unknown to the developer of the affected product — offered $20 million for chains of bugs that would allow their customers, which the company said are “Russian private and government organizations only,” to remotely compromise phones running iOS and Android.
That price is in part likely caused by the fact that there aren’t many researchers willing to work with Russia while the invasion of Ukraine continues, and that Russian government customers are likely willing to pay a premium under the current circumstances.
Leaked documents seen by TechCrunch show that, as of 2021, a zero-day allowing its user to compromise a target’s WhatsApp on Android and read the content of messages can cost between $1.7 and $8 million.
“They’ve shot up,” said a security researcher who has knowledge of the market, and asked to remain anonymous as they weren’t authorized to speak to the press.
In 2019, researchers caught customers of the controversial spyware maker NSO Group using a zero-day to target WhatsApp users.
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