Germany says lawmakers’ iPhones may have been hacked
Germany's BSI warns politicians after Apple sends threat notifications regarding potential state-backed spyware attacks targeting iPhones.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- German government warns politicians following Apple threat alerts
- BSI confirms Bundestag members were targeted by spyware
- The orchestrators behind the latest cyberattacks remain unclear
- Apple sent the latest batch of alerts to users in 99 countries
The German government has issued warnings to politicians and public figures after they were targeted by state-backed spyware, arriving just days after Apple began dispatching notifications to alert victims that their iPhones may have been compromised.
Germany’s federal cybersecurity agency, known as the BSI, stated over the weekend that it had learned members of the Bundestag, the German parliament, alongside other unnamed notable figures, received warnings from Apple regarding potential cyberattacks.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
According to the Financial Times, German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius noted that Berlin was taking the incident and the warning with utmost seriousness. However, he refrained from disclosing which specific federal officials were targeted or whether German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was among them.
State-grade spyware frequently utilizes zero-click exploits, allowing attackers to compromise devices invisibly without requiring victims to interact with malicious links or files. Targeting high-level political figures highlights how mobile hardware has become a high-value vector for sensitive security intelligence.
Apple periodically issues threat notifications to individuals it believes are targeted by spyware capable of extracting messages, location data, and sensitive records. These tools often rely on zero-click exploits that infiltrate devices silently without requiring any user interaction.
Individuals outside of Germany also received the recent alerts. Radwan Mortada, a Beirut-based filmmaker, shared on X that he received a threat notification warning of another attack against his device, following an earlier spyware incident targeting him in 2021.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
It remains undetermined who orchestrated this latest round of spyware operations or which government funded the targeting. According to the notice received by Mortada, Apple's recent batch of threat alerts reached users across 99 countries.
This episode underscores the opaque market fueling attacks against civil society members. Governments rarely build these surveillance tools independently, instead purchasing them from private vendors known as mercenary spyware makers. Israel’s NSO Group, creator of Pegasus, remains the most prominent, while Germany’s central federal law agency, the BKA, reportedly acquired access to Pegasus in 2019.
Source: TechCrunch
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