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.
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“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.”
Neither Pellegrino nor Vlaardingerbroek responded to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
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Do you have more information about government hacking groups, zero-day developers, or spyware makers? From a non-work device and network, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb, or email.
It’s not yet clear what spyware campaign, if known, the Apple notifications relate to. Apple has notified users across dozens of countries on two occasions last year that they were targeted by unspecified spyware.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pellegrino is the second Italian journalist this year to have been notified of being a target of this type of spyware, which is sometimes also referred to as “mercenary” spyware, given that it is often developed by companies who then sell the technology to governments.
In February, WhatsApp notified Pellegrino’s Fanpage colleague Francesco Cancellato that the company “interrupted the activities of a spyware company which we believe attacked your device.”
In Cancellato’s case, according to WhatsApp, the spyware was made by Paragon Solutions, an Israeli company. Citizen Lab, a digital rights organization that has investigated spyware for more than a decade, confirmed they were investigating these attacks targeted at WhatsApp users.
After Cancellato came forward, another two Italians, who work for Mediterranea Saving Humans, a non-government organization that helps rescue immigrants, also said they were targets of Paragon.
Paragon reportedly cut ties with its Italian government customer following these revelations.
