Apple alerted the Iranians to the attacks of the GMP programs on iPhone, the researchers say

Apple has informed more than ten Iranians in recent months that its iPhone devices have been targeted Government spy programsAccording to security researchers.

The Mayyan Group, a digital rights organization that focuses on Iran, and Hamid Kashefi, the Iranian cybersecurity researcher who lives in Sweden, said that they had spoken with many Iranians who received notifications last year.

Bloomberg Write On these notifications, spyware.

Mian Group Publish a report On Tuesday about the state of cybersecurity of civil society in Iran, which stated that researchers in the organization identified three cases of government spyware attacks against the Iranians, two in Iran and one in Europe, who were alerted in April this year.

Amir Rashidi, director of digital and security rights at the Mian Group, told Techcrunch: “Two people in Iran came from a family with a long history of political activity against the Islamic Republic. Many members of their family have been executed, and they have no history of traveling abroad,” said Amir Rashidi, Director of Digital and Security Rights at the Mian Group. “I think there were three waves of attacks, and we only saw the tip of the iceberg.”

Rashidi said that Iran is likely to be the government behind the attacks, although there should be more investigations into these attacks to reach a more severe decision. “I do not see any reason calling on civil society members to target them by anyone other than Iran,” he said.

Kashefi, who founded the Darkcell security company, said in an email that he had helped two victims to go to initial forensic steps, but he was unable to confirm the spyware maker who was behind the attacks. He added that some of the victims who worked with them prefer not to continue the investigation.

“All the victims were largely involved and we gave us as soon as we explained the seriousness of the case. I assume partially because of their workplace and their sensitivity related to it.”

It is not clear that any spyware maker behind these attacks.

During the past few years, Apple has been sent numerous Tours to Notifications For people whom the company believes are targeted by government spyware, such as NSO Group PegasusOr Graphite Parajon. This type of malware is also known as “mercenary” or “commercial” spyware.

The notifications helped the security researchers focus on spyware to document violations in many countries such as Indiaand El Salvador and Thailand.

on Apple Support page When the company calls “threat notifications”, the last update in April, the technology giant said that since 2021, it has informed users in “in more than 150 countries”, which shows the extent of the spread of government spyware. Apple does not reveal the names of countries, nor the total number of the people I have informed.

To help victims, since last year, Apple Those who received these threat signs recommended to communicate with the ACCEssNow Digital GroupWhich runs around the clock assistance equipped with researchers who can investigate spyware attacks. Accessnow has documented abuse of spyware around the world.

Apple did not respond to a request to comment on the notifications sent to the Iranians.