{"id":55845,"date":"2024-04-12T04:46:11","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T04:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/apple-stops-warning-of-state-sponsored-attacks-now-alerts-about-mercenary-spyware\/"},"modified":"2024-04-12T04:46:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T04:46:11","slug":"apple-stops-warning-of-state-sponsored-attacks-now-alerts-about-mercenary-spyware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/apple-stops-warning-of-state-sponsored-attacks-now-alerts-about-mercenary-spyware\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple stops warning of ‘state-sponsored’ attacks, now alerts about ‘mercenary spyware’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple has made a significant change to the wording of its threat notifications, opting not to attribute attacks to a specific source or perpetrator, but categorizing them broadly as “mercenary spyware.”<\/p>\n

With the revised verbiage, announced Wednesday, Apple is referring to the infection of devices with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware and other similar software. The fruit cart cited<\/a> public reporting and research as defining such spyware as having “historically been associated with state actors.”<\/p>\n

Apple itself has run with that assumption<\/a> and, since 2021, sent messages multiple times a year to users believed to be infected with the spyware. On Wednesday, it revealed individuals had received such notifications in over 150 countries (the UN recognizes 195 countries in the world, indicating that Apple devices \u2013 and the miscreants attacking them \u2013 have broad reach).<\/p>\n