Apple has been blasting warnings to iPhone users in over 100 countries regarding potential spyware attacks. However, the company didn’t offer specifics, such as how many people have been targeted by said attacks.
At the time of writing, and according to TechCrunch, at least two people have been made targets. The first is Italian journalist Ciro Pellegrino, who works at Fanpage in his native country, while the second is Eva Vlaardingerbroek, who is a Dutch right-wing commentator.
Yesterday I got a verified threat notification from Apple stating they detected a mercenary spyware attack against my iPhone.
We’re talking spyware like Pegasus.
All I know for sure right now is that someone is trying to intimidate me.
I have a message for them: It won’t work. pic.twitter.com/mLPVyttFwm
— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) April 30, 2025
The origins of the spyware attack is unknown but Apple cits the Israeli cyber-intelligence company, NSO Group and its software, Pegasus, as a prime example. In Vlaardingerbroek’s case, the message from Apple said that the attack “is likely targeting you specifically because of who you are and what you do. Al though it’s never possible to achieve absolute certainty when detecting such attacks, Apple has high confidence in this warning – please take it seriously.”
“Mercenary spyware attacks are exceptionally well funded, and they evolve over time. Apple relies solely on internal threat-intelligence information and investigations to detect such attacks. Although our investigations can never achieve absolute certainty, Apple threat notifications are high-confidence alerts that a user has been individually targeted by a mercenary spyware attack, and should be taken very seriously.”
For the uninitiated, mercenary spyware is a kind of software that is often developed by companies that then sell the technology to interested parties. Usually, the clients are governments that want to…well, spy on specific individuals that they deem a threat and wish to inflict as much damage as they can.
Circling back to Pellegrino’s case, his colleague was a victim of spyware and was notified by WhatsApp. This was reportedly made by Paragon Solutions, which is another Israeli company, and was discovered after they had “interrupted the activities of a spyware company which we believe attacked your device.”
(Source: TechCrunch, Apple)
