Almost half of the countries in the world got a strange notification from Apple on Wednesday.
At noon Pacific time on Wednesday, iPhone users in 92 countries got a notification warning them that they may have been targeted by “mercenary spyware attacks,” per TechCrunch. Apple didn’t disclose exactly which countries got the warnings, though personally, as a U.S. resident with an iPhone, I didn’t see anything.
What did the message say?
Wondering what was sent to iPhone users from the Cupertino-based tech giant? Here it is:
“Apple detected that you are being targeted by a mercenary spyware attack that is trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID,” the notification said, per TechCrunch. “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 özgü high confidence in this warning — please take it seriously.”
One such country that TechCrunch said received the notification was India. Some Indian journalists and politicians also reportedly received the same warning last year, after which it was discovered by Amnesty International that Pegasus spyware from the Israeli NSO Group was found on their devices.
So, in other words, someone might be spying on important people who own iPhones at a time when some countries are gearing up for elections. Yikes!