Apple Notifies New Victims of Spyware Attacks Across the World (techcrunch.com) 5
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Apple sent notifications this week to several people who the company believes were targeted with government spyware, according to two of the alleged targets. In the past, Apple has sent similar notifications to targets and victims of spyware, and directed them to contact a nonprofit that specializes in investigating such cyberattacks. Other tech companies, like Google and WhatsApp, have in recent years also periodically sent such notifications to their users. As of Wednesday, only two people appear to have come forward to reveal they were among those who received the notifications from Apple this week.
One is Ciro Pellegrino, an Italian journalist who works for online news outlet Fanpage. Pellegrino wrote in an article that he received an email and a text message from Apple on Tuesday notifying him that he was targeted with spyware. The message, according to Pellegrino, also said he wasn't the only person targeted. "Today's notification is being sent to affected users in 100 countries," the message read, according to Pellegrino's article. "Did this really happen? Yes, it is not a joke," Pellegrino wrote.
The second person to receive an Apple notification is Eva Vlaardingerbroek, a Dutch right-wing activist, who posted on X on Wednesday. "Apple detected a targeted mercenary spyware attack against your iPhone," the Apple alert said, according to a screenshot shown in a video that Vlaardingerbroek posted on X. "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." Reacting to the notification, Vlaardingerbroek said that this was an "attempt to intimidate me, an attempt to silence me, obviously."
One is Ciro Pellegrino, an Italian journalist who works for online news outlet Fanpage. Pellegrino wrote in an article that he received an email and a text message from Apple on Tuesday notifying him that he was targeted with spyware. The message, according to Pellegrino, also said he wasn't the only person targeted. "Today's notification is being sent to affected users in 100 countries," the message read, according to Pellegrino's article. "Did this really happen? Yes, it is not a joke," Pellegrino wrote.
The second person to receive an Apple notification is Eva Vlaardingerbroek, a Dutch right-wing activist, who posted on X on Wednesday. "Apple detected a targeted mercenary spyware attack against your iPhone," the Apple alert said, according to a screenshot shown in a video that Vlaardingerbroek posted on X. "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." Reacting to the notification, Vlaardingerbroek said that this was an "attempt to intimidate me, an attempt to silence me, obviously."
In the Words Of Ron Burgundy (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't believe you!
This doesn't read like Apple corporate language.
And how is Apple detecting this "mercenary spyware" on these few individuals machines while the millions of others that I'm sure are under "spyware attack" go undetected or notified?
This whole thing reads like attention seeking BS and I won't believe otherwise until Tim Apple says so.
Pawing through unencrypted iPhone backups? (Score:2)
Apple can by default read the contents of your iPhone backups.
I could see them running the moral equivalent of an anti-virus scan over those backups.
You can encrypt your backups, but then you had better not lose your backup keys or you're REALLY screwed.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not arguing their ability to do that.
But, when they do that, they will find millions of users with spyware of various types. They have not issued any broad statements. Instead they supposedly, have secretly informed this tiny handful of people? People whose livelihood depends on attention which they drive with click bait. This doesn't make you question the veracity of these attention seekers' claims?
Land line, anyone? (Score:2)