Apple warns German officials of targeted spyware threats
Apple has issued security notifications to German government staff and lawmakers regarding potential exposure to commercial spyware.
German Digital Affairs Minister Karsten Wildberger confirmed that Apple alerted several government officials and parliamentarians that their iPhones may have been targeted by mercenary spyware. The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has instructed recipients to treat their devices as if they have already been compromised.
The authorities have not disclosed the exact number of individuals affected, their departments, or their identities. According to the BSI, the threats involve highly sophisticated software capable of bypassing standard security measures to access encrypted communications, location data, and hardware peripherals like cameras and microphones.
Security analysts suggest the nature of these "zero-click" attacks—which require no user interaction to infect a device—indicates the involvement of sophisticated state-sponsored actors. While the tools bear similarities to known exploits like Pegasus, the German government has not yet attributed the campaign to any specific state or organization, nor have they confirmed if any of the targeted devices were successfully breached.