In recent months, Apple has informed more than a dozen Iranians that, according to security researchers, their iPhones were the target of the government’s spyware.
Miaan Group, an organization for digital rights that focuses on Iran, and Hamid Kashfi, an Iranian researcher of cyber security who lives in Sweden, said they spoke with various Iranians who received the reports in the past year.
Bloomberg First written About these spyware reports.
Miaan Group a report published On Tuesday about the State of Cyber Security of civil society in Iran, which stated that the researchers of the organization identified three cases of Spyware attacks from the government against Iranians, two in Iran and one in Europe, which were warned in April of this year.
“Two people in Iran come from a family with a long history of political activism against the Islamic Republic. Many members of their families have been executed and they have no history of travel abroad,” Amir Rashidi, director of Miaan Group, Digital Rights and Security, to Techcrunch. “I believe there have been three waves of attacks and we have only seen the tip of the iceberg.”
Rashidi said that Iran is probably the government behind the attacks, although there must be more research into these attacks to achieve a more convincing provision. “I see no reason for members of civil society to be directed by someone other than Iran,” he said.
Kashfi, who founded the Darkcell security company, said in an e -mail that he helped two victims when walking on provisional forensic steps, but he could not confirm which spyware maker was behind the attacks. And, he added, some of the victims with whom he worked, preferred not to continue the investigation.
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“Almost all the victims drove out and haunted us as soon as we explained the seriousness of the case to them. I assume partly because of their workplace and sensitivity of the related matters,” said Kashfi, who added that one of the victims received the notification in 2024.
It is unclear which spyware maker is behind these attacks.
In recent years, Apple has sent various rounds of reports to people whose company believes they are the target of government spyware, such as Pegasus of NSO Group of Paragon’s Graphite. This type of malware is also known as “mercenary” or “commercial” spyware.
The reports have helped security researchers who focus on spyware to document abuse in different countries, such as India, El Salvador and Thailand.
On Apple’s support page For what the company calls ‘threat reports’, last updated in April, the Tech giant said that since 2021 it has informed users in ‘in more than 150 countries’, which shows how widespread the use of government spyware is. Apple does not reveal the names of the countries, nor the total number of people it has informed.
To help victims, since last year, Apple has recommended those who received these threat reports to contact Digital Rights Group Accessnow, which is running around the clock that is being manned with researchers who can investigate Spyware attacks. AccessNow has documented cases of spyware abuse all over the world.
Apple did not respond to a request for comments on the reports sent to Iranians.
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