Apple sounds the alarm — hackers attack iPhones in 100 countries

Apple has sent warnings to several people whom it believes have been hacked by government spies. At least two users received letters and SMS with such information — the Italian journalist Ciro Pellegrino from Fanpage and the Dutch right-wing activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek.

TechCrunch writes about it.

Who else is among the affected

Pellegrino said that the notification came on Tuesday and contained clarifications.

"Today's notification is being sent to affected users in 100 countries," it was said in the message.

In his article, he admitted that at first he took the letter as a joke, but confirmed its authenticity. The activist Vlaardingerbroek posted a screenshot of Apple's message on X (formerly Twitter).

"Apple detected a targeted mercenary spyware attack against your iPhone… Apple has high confidence in this warning — please take it seriously," it was said in her message.

Commenting on the incident, she called it "an attempt to intimidate me and silence me".

Apple has traditionally advised recipients of such alerts to seek help from non-governmental organizations specialising in cyberattack investigations. The company has not yet explained what kind of spyware campaign the new alerts are related to and has refrained from making any official comments.

This is not the first such case in Italy this year. In February, WhatsApp notified Pellegrino's colleague, journalist Francesco Cancellato, that it had stopped an attack by an Israeli spyware program called Paragon Solutions. Later, two more employees of the humanitarian organisation Mediterranea Saving Humans reported being spied on by Paragon. After the disclosure, the manufacturer, according to media reports, ceased cooperation with its Italian customer.

NGOs, including the Canadian Citizen Lab, are currently investigating the circumstances of the new attacks. The number of actual victims and the source of the spyware remain unknown.

As a reminder, Apple has quietly removed the "available now" label from the Apple Intelligence page. It happened after the National Advertising Standards Authority checked it and found that the statement was untrue.

We also wrote that Apple became the leader in the number of smartphones sold in the first quarter of the year for the first time. The company has overtaken Samsung, displacing the Korean leader from the "throne".