At least two persons in India on Wednesday reported receiving a Pegasus-like alert from Apple on their iPhones. The alerts, sent out on Tuesday night, warned them that they had been targeted by a “mercenary” attack. Apple previously called these attacks “state-backed”, but changed this in April. Such spyware allows attackers to sift through personal devices of targets, allowing them to view messages, photos, and tap into microphone and camera feeds in real time.
Iltija Mufti, political adviser and daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, reported receiving the alert. So did Pushparaj Deshpande, founder of the Samruddha Bharat Foundation, which, according to its website, works to “forge progressive coalitions”. Ms. Mufti and Mr. Deshpande told The Hindu that their phones were updated, and that they would soon get their devices forensically examined.
An Apple spokesperson in India did not have an immediate comment to offer on the alerts. While the alert did not say that the attack was state-based, it named the Pegasus spyware as an example.
Pegasus, a suite of snooping tools developed by the Israeli NSO Group Technologies, is only sold to governments. The Union government never confirmed or denied purchasing and using the Pegasus hardware and refused to participate in a Supreme Court-ordered investigation into the use of the spyware.
Previous instances
This is the first time in months that such spyware alerts have been issued by Apple. The last time similar cases were documented was in October 2023, when Apple devices belonging to Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire, and Anand Mangnale, South Asia editor at the Organised Crime and Corruption Report Project, received such alerts.