Watch Apple’s Latest Mercenary Spyware Alert for iPhone Users in 98 Countries

Apple has issued an alert to users in several countries warning them that they may have been the targets of a mercenary spyware attack, in the second warning the company has issued this year. The latest threat alert has been sent to iPhone owners in 98 countries — six more than the previous warning the company sent to some users in April. In the message to users who may have been targets of these spyware attacks, Apple is urging users to take additional steps to protect their devices.

Apple warns users in 98 countries of mercenary spyware attacks

In the latest round of threat alerts issued by Apple, users in 98 countries have been warned that they may have been the target of a spyware attack. The iPhone maker has been notifying users in more than 150 countries about potential mercenary spyware attacks since 2021, the company said. support document which was updated earlier this month.

“Apple has detected that you have been targeted by a mercenary spyware attack that is attempting to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID -xxx-,” the company’s email read. A similar message was sent to users in April, and Apple is not attributing the attack to a specific threat actor or providing a list of regions where the threat alerts were issued.

The warning issued to affected users also states that Apple has “high confidence” in the warning, even though “absolute certainty” is impossible to achieve in detecting these spyware attacks. As with the previous threat alert, the company has asked users to take the warning seriously.

Users who have received the threat notification from Apple are advised to update their smartphones to the latest version of Apple’s iPhone operating system (iOS 17.5. 1) as well as the latest version of messaging and cloud-based apps.

Apple has also asked users to enable its built-in Lockdown Mode, which reduces the attack surface of several features on the phone while limiting some functionality. The company’s support document also warns users that the threat notification emails do not contain clickable links and never ask users to submit their Apple ID credentials, install apps or download files — helping to protect users from fraudulent emails designed to appear to be issued by the company.