Apple has alerted iPhone owners in 98 nations, including India, to a new mercenary malware attack that is specifically aimed at particular people. The alert emphasizes the persistent worldwide threat, much like previous Pegasus-like warnings.
Recently, Apple sent out a warning to iPhone users about the possibility of a “mercenary spyware attack” that resembles the Pegasus. The warning comes after a comparable security alert that was purportedly given to iPhone owners in 97 other countries, including India, in April 2024. Apple urged customers to heed the warning, even though it withheld the attacker’s name.
Apple reported that they had found evidence of a mercenary spyware attempt to infiltrate the user’s iPhone remotely using their Apple ID. The user was probably the specific target of the attack due to their identification or actions.
The assault that occurred in India
Apple notifies iPhone users in 150 countries on a regular basis about these kinds of assaults. It did not specify which nations were impacted by the latest attack, but according to a TechCrunch story, some iPhone owners in India are among those who got the warning alert. Furthermore, Iltija Mufti, the former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter, revealed to The Indian Express that she got a notification from Apple regarding a “mercenary spyware” attack on her iPhone.
Advanced assaults
Apple expressed great confidence in the warning and urged people to heed it, while acknowledging that it is never feasible to detect such assaults with 100% accuracy. The alert clarified that mercenary spyware attacks—like the ones that use Pegasus from the NSO Group—are much more sophisticated and extremely uncommon than typical cybercrime or consumer malware. The targeting of these continuing, worldwide attacks is done on a relatively limited number of individuals at a cost of millions of dollars every attack.
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