German MPs and ministers told to treat iPhones as compromised after Apple spyware alerts

Germany’s digital minister, Karsten Wildberger, has confirmed that members of the Bundestag and the federal government received warnings from Apple that their iPhones may have been targeted by spyware.

Speaking on ARD’s Bericht aus Berlin programme on Sunday 1 November, Wildberger said there had been “a notification from Apple that certain devices may have been compromised with so-called spyware”. He said the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) had reacted quickly and written to everyone affected. He did not say how many politicians had received the alerts or who they were.

According to a BSI letter seen by ARD, the Apple threat notifications began reaching the affected iPhones on 29 October and said an attack using “mercenary spyware” had been detected. The BSI wrote that it had no further information on the reason for or background to the notifications, and advised recipients to assume as a precaution that their devices may be compromised, because the alerts do not show whether an attack succeeded.

The BSI said spyware of this kind can give attackers access to messages, including those in encrypted apps, as well as calls, contacts, calendars and location data, and can switch on a phone’s microphone and camera, Euronews reported.

Apple sends threat notifications when it believes a user has been individually targeted by mercenary spyware, according to Euronews, and as a rule does not say what triggered a notification or attribute attacks to specific attackers, ARD reported. Neither Apple nor the German authorities have said who may be behind the attack.