Apple is alerting users to a new instance of an identified mercenary spyware attack on the iPhone. Possible victims have been sent an email from Apple describing how the attack could “remotely compromise the iPhone”. Victims are being notified in India and 91 additional countries, via Reuters.

Apple has sent out these alerts in waves since 2021, as new attacks have been discovered. They are believed to be state-sponsored, due to the high cost of development to craft such complex and sophisticated attacks. They generally target people like political activists, diplomats and journalists.

In this latest case, it seems the purpose of the attack was to install malicious software on the user’s device in order to spy on user’s data and their whereabouts.

Obviously, Apple continuously works to patch and defend against all manners of iPhone security bugs. Users can proactively help to defend themselves, by enabling Lockdown Mode on their device, which disables some iPhone features that are particularly prone to vulnerabilities.