Apple Issues Warning to Users in 92 Nations on ‘Mercenary Spyware Attacks’

Apple has issued widespread warnings to iPhone users across 92 countries, alerting them to the threat of “mercenary spyware attacks.”

In a report by TechCrunch, Apple announced to individuals in 92 nations the perceived threat at 12PM Pacific Time on Wednesday but did not give specifics as to the identity of the attackers nor the names of the countries where the spyware attacks happened.

“Apple detected that you are being targeted by a mercenary spyware attack that is trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID -xxx-,” the company warning wrote.

According to an Apple support page, users who are targeted may be due to who the individuals are or their livelihood.

“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 apple support page said.

Apple added “Such attacks are vastly more complex than regular cybercriminal activity and consumer malware, as mercenary spyware attackers apply exceptional resources to target a very small number of specific individuals and their devices. Mercenary spyware attacks cost millions of dollars and often have a short shelf life, making them much harder to detect and prevent. The vast majority of users will never be targeted by such attacks.”

The page also said that such attacks of exceptional cost may be coming from “state-actors” and specifically called out Pegasus from the NSO Group as one such mercenary spyware developed for attacks done on behalf of a state.

Apple added that the likely targets are journalists, activists, and diplomats, among others.

“Though deployed against a very small number of individuals — often journalists, activists, politicians and diplomats,” the tech giant said on their support page.

Apple has previously called the attacks as “state-sponsored attacks” but updated their support page to call them as “mercenary” attacks instead.

Possible victims were notified through the following:

*A Threat Notification will be displayed at the top of the page after the user has signed in to appleid.apple.com.
Apple will send an email and iMessage notification to the email addresses and phone numbers associated with the user’s Apple ID.

Moreover, Apple has included extra steps for possible victims to put their devices on “Lockdown Mode.” (GFB)