Apple in a new statement has warned its users in 92 countries including India that they were possible victims of a "mercenary spyware" attack. This comes months after several political leaders in India claimed that they received a warning of hackers trying to access their iPhones. According to the alleged threat notification, the email was sent to targeted users in the country.
Reuters in a report on Thursday claimed that as per a notification email sent out by Apple, the company discovered that attackers tried to "remotely compromise the iPhone"
The company discovered that attackers tried to "remotely compromise the iPhone", Apple said in the notification email Mercenary spyware attacks are rare and vastly more sophisticated than regular cybercriminal activity or malware, according to the notification email.
The iPhone maker has sent threat notifications such as these multiple times a year since 2021, the notification email said, adding that it has notified users in more than 150 countries in total to date.
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In October 20223, some lawmakers in the country shared screenshots on social media of a notification quoting the iPhone manufacturer as saying: "Apple believes you are being targeted by state-sponsored attackers who are trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID".
The company had then said it did not attribute the threat notifications to "any specific state-sponsored attacker".
In 2021, the Supreme Court had formed a committee of technical experts to look into allegations of unauthorised surveillance using the Pegasus software developed by Israeli firm NSO Group. In August 2022, the Supreme Court-appointed committee concluded that the spyware was not found in the 29 mobile phones examined by it, but malware was found in five mobile phones.
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Apple noted that according to public reporting and research by civil society organisations, 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, such as Pegasus from the NSO Group.
It said, though deployed against a very small number of individuals - often journalists, activists, politicians and diplomats - mercenary spyware attacks are ongoing and global.
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Since 2021, Apple said that it has sent out threat notifications multiple times a year as it has detected these attacks, and to date the company has notified users in over 150 countries in total.
"The extreme cost, sophistication and worldwide nature of mercenary spyware attacks makes them some of the most advanced digital threats in existence today. As a result, Apple does not attribute the attacks or resulting threat notifications to any specific attackers or geographical regions," it said.
The phone maker in its notification provides additional steps that users can take to help protect their devices, including enabling Lockdown Mode.
Apple advised its users to update their devices with the latest security patches and exercise caution while interacting with suspicious links or messages.
(With agency inputs)