NSO Group deployed at least three new "zero-click" hacks against iPhones last year, finding ways to penetrate some of Apple's latest software, researchers at Citizen Lab have discovered

The attacks struck phones with iOS 15 and early versions of iOS 16 operating software, Citizen Lab said in a report.

The lab, based at the University of Toronto, shared its results with Apple, which has now fixed the flaws that NSO had been exploiting.

It's the latest sign of NSO's ongoing efforts to create spyware that penetrates iPhones without users taking any action. Citizen Lab has detected multiple NSO hacking methods in past years while examining the phones of likely targets, including human rights workers and journalists.

The Tame Apple Press has been doing its best to say that it is not Apple’s fault, but just that the NSO are rather good at their business. But for some reason, a lot of its work does seem to focus on Apple.

Citizen Lab said that despite Apple notifying targets, and the Commerce Department putting NSO on a blacklist, and the Israeli ministry cracking down on export licenses, NSO is absorbing those costs," Marczak said.

Given the financial and legal fights NSO is involved in, Citizen Lab said it was an open question how long NSO could keep finding or buying new exploits that are effective. We guess that is up to Apple.