Germany’s cybersecurity agency has warned lawmakers who received spyware alerts from Apple to treat their iPhones as potentially compromised.
Several members of the Bundestag and other public figures have received the warnings since October 29, according to a notice published on the website of the Federal Office for Information Security.
Apple’s alerts said it had detected an attack involving mercenary spyware.
The BSI described the software as commercially developed surveillance tools frequently used by state-backed actors to target specific individuals.
The agency said it could not establish whether the attackers had successfully infiltrated the affected devices or merely attempted to do so.
The BSI said it notified Bundestag members about the threat on October 30 and urged anyone who received the alerts to contact the agency directly.
“Those affected who have received a corresponding warning message from Apple should therefore assume that their device may have been compromised,” the BSI wrote (translated from German).
Apple has issued such security alerts several times a year since 2021, reaching users in more than 150 countries, according to its support page.
The company describes the notifications as high-confidence warnings but does not disclose the identities of the attackers or the regions where the attacks originate.
