Apple Warns German Politicians of iPhone Spyware
The iPhones of German politicians have been targeted. Beginning October 29, members of the federal parliament and government officials received spyware attack alerts on their iPhones — malicious software secretly installed to extract information. Apple had detected what it calls 'mercenary spyware,' hacking attacks carried out for pay to surveil specific individuals. Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) confirmed over the weekend that prominent figures including lawmakers and unnamed government members had received the threat notifications, and advised recipients to act on the assumption that their devices may have been compromised.
German Minister of Digital Affairs and Administrative Modernization Karsten Wildberger acknowledged the facts on ARD's public television current affairs program 'Bericht aus Berlin.' "Apple notified us that certain devices may have been infected with spyware," he said. He explained that the BSI had responded by providing written guidance to everyone affected on how to proceed. Government spokesman Steffen Cornelius said the Berlin government was taking the incident and the warnings "very seriously."
According to the BSI, this type of spyware can access conversations, including messages from encrypted apps, as well as calls, contacts, calendars and location data, and can also secretly activate the microphone and camera. The agency explained that it often exploits 'zero-click' vulnerabilities — infecting devices without the user clicking a link or opening a file — making it difficult for victims to detect. Apple noted that this spyware is far more sophisticated than ordinary cybercrime, but that the vast majority of users are not targets.
The alerts were not limited to Germany. Radwan Mortada, a filmmaker based in Beirut, said on social media platform X that he had received a new threat notification; his notification stated that this batch of alerts had been sent to users in 99 countries. He was also targeted in a spyware attack in 2021.
Neither Apple nor German authorities identified a possible perpetrator. Minister Wildberger also declined to name specific devices, attack methods or actors behind the attacks, conveying that speculation at this stage amounted to mere conjecture. The BSI has not disclosed the number or identities of affected politicians, nor whether the attacks succeeded. Who was behind the attacks and whether devices were actually infected remain unconfirmed.
