Apple detected new mercenary spyware attacks against its iPhones in new countries.
The tech company had detected attacks in 58 countries since 2021 until this week, when it delivered notifications to an additional 92 countries. Apple suggested to the users who received these alerts to their iMessage and email accounts that they update their phones and passwords to keep their devices secure.
“Apple threat notifications are designed to inform and assist users who may have been individually targeted by mercenary spyware attacks, likely because of who they are or what they do,” the company explains in its policy. “According to public reporting and research by civil society organizations, technology firms, and journalists, individually targeted attacks of such exceptional cost and complexity have historically been associated with state actors, including private companies developing mercenary spyware on their behalf.”
According to Apple, targets of these types of individual attacks tend to be journalists, activists, politicians, and diplomats. However, the company did not reveal the origin country of any of these attacks.
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iPhone users have had the option to go into Lockdown Mode since 2022, which blocks certain apps and websites amid a cyberattack. Even the attachments in messages and locations in pictures are blocked in this mode.
This comes as Apple is in the middle of a lawsuit against the Israel-based NSO Group for its Pegasus spyware that was found on iPhones back in 2016. As a result of Apple’s lawsuit, NSO Group has also landed itself on the Biden administration’s Entity List, which includes companies that “supplied spyware to foreign governments.”
