Apple's Spyware Alert for Some Users in India, 91 Other Nations Follows CERT-In's Query to Tech Giant

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posted on 8 months ago — updated on 1 second ago

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The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) asked Apple on April 10 to clarify whether any new vulnerabilities had been reported to or found by the company including their related patches developed to mitigate the vulnerabilities, sources said. They added that the government body also asked Apple on April 10 to inform about such new vulnerabilities and patch information to Apple users to enable the prevention of any malicious activity

The recent threat notification alert from Apple to some users was a result of ministry of electronics and information technology wing CERT-In writing to the company on April 10 to inform its users if any new vulnerabilities had been found in its products, government sources told News18 on Thursday.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) asked Apple on April 10 to clarify whether any new vulnerabilities had been reported to or found by the company including their related patches developed to mitigate the vulnerabilities, said the sources. They added that the government body also asked Apple on April 10 to inform about such new vulnerabilities and patch information to Apple users to enable the prevention of any malicious activity.

Sources said CERT-In has been very active in detecting cyber attacks on Indian users and systems and has been in constant touch and discussions with Apple on reported vulnerabilities in the American multinational’s products. CERT-In has also been sharing Vulnerability Notes and its Advisories with Apple, they added.

Apple iPhone users in India and 91 other countries got a new spyware attack notification from the company on April 11 at 12.30 am (IST), which could be as dangerous as the Israeli NSO Group’s Pegasus. The company has sent out this alert previously as well and does so when it detects major intrusion in iPhones and other devices.

The company said, “Today’s notification is being sent to targeted users in 92 countries, and to date we have notified users in over 150 countries in total,” which includes iPhone users from India as well. “Apple sends an email and iMessage notification to the email addresses and phone numbers associated with the user’s Apple ID,” it explained on its support page. It was not immediately clear who and how many users received the notification in India.

“Apple detected that you are being targeted by a mercenary spyware attack that is trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID. This attack is likely targeting you specifically because of who you are or what you do,” said the notification email that affected iPhone users received.