Show HN: First iOS app to use technique that finds latest variants of spyware

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/am-i-secure/id6468312814

Only app for iOS that uses a new technique that can detect advanced spyware like NSO's Pegasus. Also detects malware and viruses. Includes FREE security checks too.

Note: for the Government & Enterprise Edition, please search for Am I Secure? for Work here on the App Store.

Am I Secure? offers the most advanced security scanning for those at the highest level of risk. It performs more security checks than any other app.

Your whole life is on your mobile device. Private messages, email, photos, contacts, financial information…everything a cyber attacker could possibly want. If you can read it or access it from your device, so can an attacker that has compromised it. Even private messages sent using an encrypted messaging app are readable. Sophisticated attackers can even covertly use your device’s microphone to listen to conversations you are having in the same room as the device and covertly take photos and video using the camera and physically track your movements via your device’s GPS location.

Am I Secure? is the most comprehensive security solution for iOS. It is the only one that performs the forensic analysis necessary to successfully detect the malware and spyware of even the most advanced nation-state level cyber attackers and commercial spyware companies that sell to authoritarian regimes.

To perform an advanced security scan to detect malware and spyware, users first initiate the system diagnostic functionality built-in to iOS, this collects data about the iOS operating system and running processes. The user then shares this data with the Am I Secure? app which uploads it to our analyzer servers for in-depth artificial intelligence powered machine learning (AI/ML) analysis with results available in the app in less than a minute.

Our analyzer servers inspect system diagnostic data looking for:
• Existing indicators of compromise (IOCs) that our threat hunting team has discovered
• Via AI/ML, anomalies in your device’s system diagnostic information that deviate from a known good or expected baseline so they can be triaged for manual analysis

Our team of expert mobile cyber threat hunters and cyber analysts manually review all found anomalies to determine if a device is compromised. As new threats and related IOCs are found, old submissions (which are retained for up to 3 months) are re-analyzed with any changed results sent to users.

The advanced security scanning feature requires a paid subscription available via in-app purchase.

Other apps only check if your device’s iOS version is up to date and passcode is enabled and then declare it secure. Some provide a VPN service which can actually increase your risk by sending all of your communications to a 3rd party while not adding any real security value.

Use Am I Secure? and obtain real insight into your device’s security status and learn what you can do to improve your security posture against even the most advanced cyber adversaries.

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  "text": "Background\nIn 2021, my iPhone was exploited with spyware (Pegasus) by a client of the NSO Group due to my employment at the time (i.e. I worked for a target organization). From there I began helping other at risk users identify when their iPhones were compromised via manual forensic analysis of their devices. Wanted to scale this manual forensic analysis to a wider audience to make it widely available to find more victims of spyware companies like NSO Group (Pegasus) and Cytrox (Predator) so created an app to do it called Am I Secure? that is on the App Store now. It is able to detect the latest variants of spyware (including those deployed against victims in April 2024). The app also performs a number of other security checks, more than any other iOS app.<p>Key Differentiator\nAll iOS apps operate within an &quot;app sandbox&quot;, a restricted space within iOS that limits an app to accessing only its own data and specific data a user has provided permission to, such as contacts or location data. This is to ensure security and privacy. Due to these restrictions, no iOS apps, including security focussed ones, are able to directly access the operating system and other data necessary to perform an analysis of the operating system for spyware or malware. While some iOS apps market themselves as antivirus solutions, unlike real antivirus solutions that run on Windows or macOS, they are not actually able to perform any traditional antivirus functions on iOS and these apps add little, if any, security value. Usually they just provide sketchy VPN and “identity protection” services while making it appear that they protect your device but with no actual device security at all and the web sites they block, if you do use their VPN, are all malicious sites targeting Windows, irrelevant to iOS security.<p>Am I Secure? bypasses the limitations of the app sandbox by having users of the app share iOS system diagnostic data with the app so access can be obtained. Without access to this data, no app can perform a proper analysis for spyware. Via the app, this data is then uploaded to our servers where it is analyzed and the results are reported back to the user within the app and, if spyware is found, to the email address tied to their account. No private user data such as messages or photos are contained within the system diagnostic data so user privacy is preserved. No other app is using this technique or analyzing actual system data.<p>Beyond detecting previously discovered and publicly known Indicators of Compromise (IoCs), the automated AI&#x2F;ML augmented analysis on our servers goes deeper. It looks for any anomalies in the submitted data versus what is expected from a &quot;known good&quot; iOS device as well as comparing against other submissions from across the user base. Any anomalies are then manually analyzed to detect new previously unknown IoCs. Looking for publicly known IoCs only finds yesterday&#x27;s spyware, spyware vendors rapidly change their spyware after public disclosure occurs to ensure prior IoCs are ineffective. Our analysis techniques though will continue to find spyware as the anomalies they leave change but continue to stand out.",
  "time": 1714676636,
  "title": "Show HN: First iOS app to use technique that finds latest variants of spyware",
  "type": "story",
  "url": "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/am-i-secure/id6468312814"
}

{
  "author": "Numbers Station Inc",
  "date": "2024-04-15T12:00:00.000Z",
  "description": "‎Note: for the Government & Enterprise Edition, please search for Am I Secure? for Work here on the App Store. Am I Secure? offers the most advanced security scanning for those at the highest level of risk. It performs more security checks than any other app. Your whole life is on your mobile devi…",
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  "logo": "https://logo.clearbit.com/apple.com",
  "publisher": "Apple",
  "title": "‎Am I Secure?",
  "url": "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/am-i-secure/id6468312814"
}

{
  "url": "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/am-i-secure/id6468312814",
  "title": "‎Am I Secure?",
  "description": "‎Note: for the Government & Enterprise Edition, please search for Am I Secure? for Work here on the App Store.\n\nAm I Secure? offers the most advanced security scanning for those at the highest level of risk.  It performs more security checks than any other app.\n\nYour whole life is on your mobile devi…",
  "links": [
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  ],
  "image": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple211/v4/26/b1/90/26b19040-29b1-cadd-2439-65cef451cbc1/AppIcon-0-0-1x_U007epad-0-0-85-220.png/1200x600wa.png",
  "content": "<div><p>Only app for iOS that uses a new technique that can detect advanced spyware like NSO's Pegasus. Also detects malware and viruses. Includes FREE security checks too.</p><p>Note: for the Government &amp; Enterprise Edition, please search for Am I Secure? for Work here on the App Store.</p><p>Am I Secure? offers the most advanced security scanning for those at the highest level of risk.  It performs more security checks than any other app.</p><p>Your whole life is on your mobile device. Private messages, email, photos, contacts, financial information…everything a cyber attacker could possibly want. If you can read it or access it from your device, so can an attacker that has compromised it. Even private messages sent using an encrypted messaging app are readable. Sophisticated attackers can even covertly use your device’s microphone to listen to conversations you are having in the same room as the device and covertly take photos and video using the camera and physically track your movements via your device’s GPS location.</p><p>Am I Secure? is the most comprehensive security solution for iOS. It is the only one that performs the forensic analysis necessary to successfully detect the malware and spyware of even the most advanced nation-state level cyber attackers and commercial spyware companies that sell to authoritarian regimes.</p><p>To perform an advanced security scan to detect malware and spyware, users first initiate the system diagnostic functionality built-in to iOS, this collects data about the iOS operating system and running processes. The user then shares this data with the Am I Secure? app which uploads it to our analyzer servers for in-depth artificial intelligence powered machine learning (AI/ML) analysis with results available in the app in less than a minute.</p><p>Our analyzer servers inspect system diagnostic data looking for:<br />• Existing indicators of compromise (IOCs) that our threat hunting team has discovered<br />• Via AI/ML, anomalies in your device’s system diagnostic information that deviate from a known good or expected baseline so they can be triaged for manual analysis</p><p>Our team of expert mobile cyber threat hunters and cyber analysts manually review all found anomalies to determine if a device is compromised. As new threats and related IOCs are found, old submissions (which are retained for up to 3 months) are re-analyzed with any changed results sent to users.</p><p>The advanced security scanning feature requires a paid subscription available via in-app purchase.</p><p>Other apps only check if your device’s iOS version is up to date and passcode is enabled and then declare it secure. Some provide a VPN service which can actually increase your risk by sending all of your communications to a 3rd party while not adding any real security value.</p><p>Use Am I Secure? and obtain real insight into your device’s security status and learn what you can do to improve your security posture against even the most advanced cyber adversaries.</p><p>Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/</p></div>",
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  "source": "apps.apple.com",
  "published": "apr 15, 2024",
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