Several German lawmakers and foreign policy staff received Apple warnings on spyware
Members of Germany’s political elite were among the spyware targets in 99 countries that Apple personally warned recently.
Multiple lawmakers and public figures in Germany are among the snooping victims Apple warned last week about spyware attacks, according to the country’s information security agency.
The hacking attempts are a significant development underscoring the national security threat European officials face as spyware deployment becomes both increasingly visible and apparently inexorable under current policies on the continent.
They also spotlight Europe’s continuing vulnerability to snooping, which human rights and digital freedoms advocates have loudly demanded lawmakers address more aggressively.
On Monday, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported the Apple threat notifications were sent to members of a German delegation of federal ministries’ staffers, lawmakers and journalists traveling with Chancellor Friedrich Merz on a sweep through Asia. While there Merz met with top officials in South Korea, Japan and Singapore.
Many of the victims have not come forward, but on Tuesday morning, Franziska Brantner, co-leader of the Green Party and a member of the parliament’s European Affairs Committee, revealed she was among the victims, whom Apple said were located in 99 countries.
The information security agency, known as the BSI, on Friday sent German officials, lawmakers and public figures who received the threat notifications a warning letter saying they should assume their devices are infected and immediately replace them, according to a local news outlet’s interview with Digital Minister Karsten Wildberg.
The letter was sent within 24 hours of Apple sending the threat notifications, which Wildberg said highlights that the government “reacted super quickly.”
The BSI said it does not know how many of the victims’ devices were actually infected versus merely targeted or why those receiving the alerts were pinpointed by hackers, but its announcement and letter alone make clear that it considers the attacks to be particularly noteworthy.
Late last week, a Lebanese documentary filmmaker and Turkey-based reporter were the first victims to publicly confirm they were among scores, if not hundreds, of targets that received Apple warnings about spyware targeting.
‘Very different this time’
Hannah Neumann, a member of the European Parliament representing Germany, has long advocated for European lawmakers and officials to step up their efforts to combat spyware. She served on parliament’s PEGA committee — now disbanded — to investigate advanced commercial spyware, particularly the NSO Group’s frequently abused Pegasus software.
In July, Neumann spoke out after spyware was discovered on the phone of a former parliamentarian who also sat on the investigating committee. The latest revelations further emphasize security threats advanced commercial spyware poses, she said.
“Several foreign policy politicians and also staffers have received Apple notifications in the last round, and given that before it was maybe one in one round and then maybe another one in another round, this has been very different this time,” Neumann said in an interview. “There has been something big going on.”
Neumann has long called spyware abuses a national security threat in addition to an invasion of privacy.
“It’s a hardcore security issue because once the technology is out there, we will see proliferation,” she said. “We will see more and more actors engaging in it, and they will not shy away from using it for political espionage reasons, and apparently now somebody has done that at a large scale against the German political elite.”
A digital forensic researcher at the Citizen Lab pointed out that the attacks have become public on the eve of a Pall Mall Process meeting to be held in Paris on November 11-12, where voluntary industry guidelines for spyware usage will be unveiled. Pall Mall is an international initiative spearheaded by the French and British governments to stamp out the proliferation and abuse of spyware and other advanced surveillance technologies.
“It wouldn’t shock me if the companies giving feedback at Pall Mall are among those captured by Apple’s latest threat notification round,” John Scott-Railton said via text.
“What just happened in Germany is the latest proof that Europe has an untreated mercenary spyware epidemic,” he added.
For too long, he said, European countries have tolerated spyware companies and signaled support for the technology by signing on as customers.
“This is a very big deal and it proves that even the most technologically sophisticated European governments are totally vulnerable to mercenary spyware,” he said. “This is a chance for Germany to take decisive action to create serious deterrence and show leadership.”
