New Apple Hack: Up to 270M iPhones Vulnerable to ‘DarkSword’ Exploit

DarkSword is a publicly exposed iPhone exploit kit observed in watering‑hole attacks that exploits iOS 18.4–18.6.2 zero‑day vulnerabilities to perform fileless infections and exfiltrate sensitive data (passwords, messages, photos, health data, email and cryptocurrency wallet information). Researchers observed deployments across Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Malaysia; the code was found unencrypted on compromised sites and appears to be shared or sold among multiple actors. Immediate mitigations are to update to patched iOS versions (e.g., iOS 26.3.1 or 18.7.6), enable Lockdown Mode if high‑risk, and reboot devices to clear active fileless infections.