Apple sends out spyware attack notifications to targeted users

Apple has just sent out another round of notifications to iPhone users who may have been targeted in sophisticated and wide-ranging spyware attacks.

Two separate users, Italian journalist Ciro Pellegrino and Dutch right-wing political commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek, both shared on Wednesday that they had received an urgent alert from Apple. TechCrunch first noticed Pellegrino's article detailing the notification, as well as a video from Vlaardingerbroek about her experience.

The Apple notification warned both Pellegrino and Vlaardingerbroek that their smartphones were targeted in a spyware attack.

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"ALERT: Apple detected a targeted mercenary spyware attack against your phone," reads the notification from Apple.

In his article, Pellegrino shares an email he reportedly received from Apple, which says the latest spyware notifications were sent to users in 100 countries, though users in as many as 150 countries could be involved.

Mashable has reported on previous rounds of spyware notifications sent by Apple. The iPhone maker started sending these notifications to users it suspected of being targeted by "mercenary spyware attacks" in 2024.

"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," reads a previous spyware notification email from Apple. "This attack is likely targeting you specifically because of who you are or what you do. Although it's never possible to achieve absolute certainty when detecting such attacks, Apple has high confidence in this warning — please take it seriously."

As TechCrunch points out, Pellegrino's colleague at the Italian news outlet Fanpage was also warned by WhatsApp earlier this year about a targeted spyware attack. According to WhatsApp at the time, the spyware was traced to an Israel-based spyware maker Paragon Solutions. And earlier this month, we reported on another WhatsApp and Signal scam targeting human rights groups and supporters of Ukraine.

At this time, it's unclear what group (or groups) are behind the targeted spyware attacks. Mashable has reached out to Apple for more information and will update this piece if we hear back.