Apple on Thursday sent a fresh batch of notifications to customers whom it suspects may have been targeted by mercenary spyware attacks.
In a statement shared with TechCrunch, the iPhone maker said it alerted an unspecified number of users targeted in 110 countries and that it has notified customers in over 150 countries to date. Apple began sending threat notifications to users in late 2021.
“The extreme cost, sophistication, and worldwide nature of mercenary spyware attacks make them some of the most advanced digital threats in existence today,” the tech giant said. “As a result, Apple does not attribute the attacks or resulting threat notifications to any specific attackers or geographical regions.”
Typically, such notifications are sent to people who may have been individually targeted because of “who they are or what they do,” including journalists, activists, politicians, and diplomats.
They tend to focus on a very small number of specific individuals and their devices, and are much more advanced than regular cybercrime activity owing to the amount of time and resources that are sunk in by spyware vendors to develop exploits that can be wielded to deliver the surveillance payload.
Apple described its threat notifications as high-confidence alerts that a user has been singled out by a mercenary spyware attack, urging users who receive them to take the threat seriously. It also said it cannot share specifics on what causes it to issue the alerts, as doing so may help the spyware attackers refine their tactics in response to public disclosure.
Users are notified in three different ways –
- An Apple Threat Notification alert appears on the user’s iPhone, on the Lock Screen and in Settings.
- A notification is sent to the email addresses associated with the user’s Apple Account. The email is sent from “threat-notifications@email.apple[.]com.”
- A threat notification banner is displayed at the top of the user’s Apple Account page after they sign in to account.apple[.]com.
To stay safe, it’s advised to update devices to the latest software version, secure devices with a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID, enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for the Apple account, turn on Stolen Device Protection, install apps only from trusted sources, turn on Lockdown Mode, and refrain from opening links or attachments from unknown senders.
