Apple has issued a new series of threat notices to iPhone users in 98 countries warning them about potential mercenary spyware attacks. This is the company's second warning campaign this year, following a similar notice sent to users in 92 countries in April.
According to a support document on the company's website, Apple has been sending these notifications periodically since 2021, reaching users in more than 150 countries.
“Apple has detected that you have been the target of a mercenary spyware attack attempting to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID -xxx-,” the company wrote in an alert to affected customers.
“This attack may be targeted specifically at you because of who you are or what you do. While it is never possible to detect such attacks with absolute certainty, Apple is highly confident in this warning and please take it seriously,” Apple added in the text.
Indian users were among those to receive Apple's latest threat notification after the company sent a similar warning to several journalists and politicians in the country in October. Human rights group Amnesty International later reported that it had found Pegasus, a highly invasive spyware made by Israeli company NSO Group, on the iPhone of a prominent Indian journalist.
In its communications to affected users, Apple stressed the sensitive nature of how it identified the threat, and warned that revealing additional details could help attackers evade detection in the future.
Apple has also made a major shift in its language since last year, choosing to describe these incidents as “mercenary spyware attacks” rather than the term “state-sponsored” attacks it had previously used.
Apple said it relies solely on “internal threat intelligence and research” to detect such attacks.