Bloomberg reports that Apple has met with Thai government officials in the wake of its recent wave of iPhone alerts about mercenary spyware attacks. Here are the details.
Apple meets with Thai officials
Last week, The Financial Times and TechCrunchreported that Apple had sent a fresh wave of threat notifications to potential spyware targets in 99 countries, warning them that they may have been targeted by mercenary spyware attacks.
At the time, the FT focused on German lawmakers who had received the warnings, while TechCrunch highlighted recipients in other countries, including Beirut-based filmmaker Radwan Mortada.
Today, Bloomberg reported that “Thailand held meetings with Apple Inc. officials” over the notifications, adding that the warnings raised questions about “who may have targeted [Thai politicians] and why.”
Receiving an alert doesn’t necessarily mean a device was successfully compromised, Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaichanok Chidchob said after meeting Apple representatives Wednesday, Krungthep Turakij and other media reported. Thai authorities also have no evidence so far that the latest attempted attacks involved Pegasus, the spyware developed by Israel’s NSO Group, he said.
As Bloomberg explains, Pegasus was “allegedly used against pro-democracy campaigners in 2022.”
The recent wave of alerts, which were sent out on October 29, followed another round in August, when Apple notified potential targets in 110 countries. As always, Apple declined to disclose what triggers these notifications to prevent attackers from evading detection in the future, but recommended that recipients enable Lockdown Mode and seek expert security assistance.
Bloomberg added that Thai authorities are expected to meet with other technology companies on Thursday to discuss potential countermeasures, including risks to Android devices.
To read Bloomberg’s full report, follow this link.
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