The German government has issued a warning to politicians and notable figures regarding possible surveillance by government-sponsored spyware, following notifications from Apple alerting users that their iPhones might have been compromised.
Over the weekend, Germany’s federal cybersecurity agency, the BSI, indicated that it had learned that members of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, along with other prominent individuals, had received alerts from Apple regarding potential cyber threats.
Government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius mentioned that the administration in Berlin is taking the situation and the associated warning very seriously. However, he refrained from disclosing the identities of those targeted, including whether Chancellor Friedrich Merz was among them.
Apple routinely issues notifications to individuals it suspects may have been targeted by spyware, which is capable of extracting messages, location information, and other sensitive data from devices. This spyware frequently employs zero-click exploits, allowing it to infiltrate devices without any action required from the victim, such as clicking links or opening files.
Apple does not specify which governments are behind these attacks or confirm if a device has been hacked. As a result, the BSI has advised anyone receiving a notification from Apple to assume that their device could be compromised.
The recent alerts extend beyond Germany, with individuals worldwide also receiving Apple’s warnings. Filmmaker Radwan Mortada, based in Beirut, reported on X that he received a new threat notification indicating “another attack against your device,” following a previous spyware incident in 2021.
The origin of these latest spyware attacks remains uncertain, along with the identity of any government involved in the targeting. Mortada’s notice revealed that Apple issued its latest alerts to users across 99 countries.
This situation underscores the obscure nature of numerous attacks on civil society figures. Governments typically do not create these surveillance tools themselves; instead, they procure them from private vendors often described as “mercenary spyware” firms. The most notorious among these is Israel’s NSO Group, known for its Pegasus spyware. Reports suggest that Germany’s own federal law enforcement agency, the BKA, acquired access to Pegasus in 2019.
