Apple has sent a new round of spyware warnings to users in 99 countries, including journalists, documentary filmmakers, German politicians and government officials. That figure reflects the reach of the notifications, not the number of confirmed iPhone infections: recipients were warned that spyware may have targeted them.
According to 9to5mac’s report, the alerts are part of Apple’s recurring notifications to people it suspects may be under surveillance by unknown parties. Apple has not named the suspected attackers or disclosed which country or organization may have been behind the operation.
The Financial Times reported that German members of parliament and government officials received Apple’s warnings on October 29. Over the weekend, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) issued an urgent warning to those affected, advising them not to consider their devices safe for continued use.
German authorities believe the attackers may have exploited a vulnerability that required no interaction from the target. There may have been no suspicious message to open or malicious link to tap. Knowing the victim’s phone number could have been enough to put the device at risk, though that attack method has not been confirmed.
Apple describes attacks of this kind as extremely sophisticated and expensive. Some of the spyware used in these operations is commercially available, with developers selling surveillance technology to governments and other customers. That commercial market alone does not establish who was responsible for these suspected attacks.
A successful spyware infection could give attackers access to messages stored on the device, potentially exposing conversations even in encrypted messaging apps. It could also collect contacts, call history, the phone’s location data, stored photos and files. In worse cases, attackers could remotely access the microphone and camera. These are possible consequences of an infection, not confirmation that everyone who received an alert had their data accessed.
Journalists, investigative reporters and other public figures can face a heightened risk from targeted spyware operations and are among their most frequent targets. Lebanese documentary filmmaker Radwan Mortada shared his Apple notification on X. Ragıp Soylu, Middle East Eye’s Turkey correspondent, and other media professionals also reported receiving warnings.
Apple recommends updating the operating system and enabling Lockdown Mode, which restricts features and connection options that sophisticated attacks could exploit. For recipients of the German warning, the BSI’s advice goes further: they should not assume the affected phone remains safe to use.
