Members of Germany’s parliament have been told to treat their iPhones as possibly compromised. The country’s federal cybersecurity office, the BSI, has warned Bundestag members and other public figures after Apple sent them threat notifications about spyware, according to TechCrunch. AppleInsider and Clash Report (citing the Financial Times) also covered the warning.
What the BSI said. The agency said in a note over the weekend that it had become aware of the warnings. Its advice is blunt: anyone who receives an Apple threat notification should assume the device may have been compromised, according to TechCrunch. Other reports say the agency confirmed this in a letter to lawmakers dated October 30 and in an advisory on its own site, and that Apple’s notifications began going out on October 29.
The government response. Government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius, cited by the Financial Times, said Berlin was treating the incident and the warning seriously. Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger confirmed the warning on Sunday, November 1, according to other reports. Neither named who in the federal government was targeted, and TechCrunch notes that it is not clear whether Chancellor Friedrich Merz was among those affected. The number of lawmakers warned has not been published.
How Apple’s alerts work. Apple periodically sends threat notifications to people it believes may have been targeted by spyware. The latest batch went to users in 99 countries, according to a notice seen by TechCrunch, although another report cites a different count for an earlier wave. Apple does not attribute attacks to specific governments and does not confirm that a phone was actually compromised, so a notification means a person was a possible target, not that data was stolen.
What this kind of spyware does. Mercenary spyware can steal messages, location data and other sensitive information, and it often uses zero-click exploits, which need no link to be clicked and no file to be opened. Governments often buy such tools from private vendors, such as Israel’s NSO Group, maker of Pegasus. TechCrunch notes that Germany’s federal criminal police office reportedly bought access to Pegasus in 2019.
Who is behind it. That is unknown. No reports name a perpetrator, and the BSI cannot say whether any of the phones were in fact compromised. A Beirut-based filmmaker who also received a notice said it described another attack against the device, after an earlier spyware attack in 2021.
Why it matters. Spyware aimed at lawmakers raises concerns about espionage and political influence, and it affects anyone who handles sensitive information. For readers in the US and UK, the practical step is to treat an Apple threat notification as serious, update iOS promptly, and consider Apple’s Lockdown Mode for anyone who may be a likely target. Journalists, activists and officials are the groups most often warned.
What to watch. Look for how many lawmakers were affected, any attribution by German or European authorities, and whether Apple or the BSI share more technical details about the flaws used.
Sources: TechCrunch, AppleInsider and Clash Report, citing the Financial Times. Details are as reported by those outlets and German officials.
Reichstag building, Berlin (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
