Apple has not attributed the recent wave of attacks to any stakeholder. Last October, it had sent a similar notification to Opposition leaders across parties.
Apple has sent a fresh round of threat notifications to some of its users in India, along with 91 other countries, warning them that their iPhone could have been potentially attacked by “mercenary spyware,” including the Israeli NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus malware.
Apple has not attributed the recent wave of attacks to any stakeholder. Last October, it had sent a similar notification to Opposition leaders across parties — from Congress’s Shashi Tharoor to AAP’s Raghav Chadha to TMC’s Mahua Moitra — warning of a “potential state-sponsored spyware attack” on their iPhones.
The company, after pressure from the government, had later clarified that it “does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker”.
The threat notification emails were sent at around 12.30 am IST on Thursday (April 11) to impacted users in India. It is unclear how many people have received the threat notification from Apple. The email also mentions the NSO-Group’s Pegasus spyware, saying tools like those are being used to target people on an ongoing basis globally.
“ALERT: Apple detected a targeted mercenary spyware attack against your iPhone,” reads the subject line of the threat notification, a copy of which has been seen by The Indian Express.