Apple Spyware Alert Hits 110 Countries. What It Means and What to Do

If Apple suddenly tells you that someone may have targeted your iPhone with spyware, that's not a notification you want to ignore.

Apple has sent a new round of these warnings to users in 110 countries, telling them they may have been individually targeted by what it calls “mercenary spyware.”

Though the warnings aren't new, Apple has been sending them since 2021 and says it has notified users in more than 150 countries over that time. What's different about this latest wave is the number of people publicly reporting that they've received one.

Access Now, which helps people who have been targeted by spyware, told TechCrunch that requests for help jumped 30% to 40% above normal after the latest notifications went out.

That sounds alarming, but getting the warning doesn't necessarily mean someone successfully hacked your iPhone. It means Apple believes you were specifically targeted and considers the threat serious enough to warn you.

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Why are people getting these warnings?

Apple's mercenary spyware alerts are meant for a very different kind of threat from the phishing emails and scam texts most people deal with.

These attacks typically involve sophisticated surveillance tools used against specific people. Journalists, activists, politicians, and human rights defenders have all been targeted in the past.

But you don't have to be a famous journalist or political dissident to end up on someone's list. One of the people who received the latest warning was a Ukrainian soldier. He initially thought the alert might be a scam before confirming it with Apple.