Apple has sent out a new wave of alerts about the threat of using "hired spyware." Users in 110 countries have received warnings, and cybersecurity experts have already announced a record number of calls about possible hacking of gadgets.
Ukrainian defenders were among those who were tried to be controlled through surveillance.
Apple has sent out a new wave of alerts about the threat of using "hired spyware." Users in 110 countries have received warnings, and cybersecurity experts have already announced a record number of calls about possible hacking of gadgets.
Ukrainian defenders were among those who were tried to be controlled through surveillance.
According to one of the human rights organizations that Apple advises victims of spyware to contact, the latest wave of notifications has become the largest ever.
Mohammed Al-Maskati, head of the Access Now investigation team, told TechCrunch that since Friday they have seen a record number of calls for help. Among those who have reached out are people who have received similar warnings in the past. According to him, the number of requests has increased by about 30-40% compared to the usual figures after similar mailings from Apple.
Cybersecurity company iVerify also confirmed to TechCrunch that it is seeing a sharp spike in threat reports from Apple device users.
Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott-Railton noted that the public response is just the “tip of the iceberg”: “The scale and geographic diversity of the notifications is truly unprecedented. For every public notification, there are a huge number of notifications that the public will never know about. This is a clear signal that something much larger is happening.”
According to TechCrunch, a serviceman in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in particular, received the threat notification. On condition of anonymity, he said that he initially took the message for a simple scam, but later confirmed its authenticity directly through Apple.
According to the soldier, other Ukrainian military personnel have also received similar warnings, which has caused concern in army circles. The CERT-UA team has so far refrained from official comments on the scale of the mailing among Ukrainians.
Cybersecurity experts and Apple officials are urging people to take the warnings seriously. Anyone who is at risk or has received such a notification is advised to immediately enable Lockdown Mode on their iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Apple notes that so far, there have been no cases of successful hacking of devices on which this protection mode was activated.
