Germany says lawmakers’ iPhones may have been hacked with spyware

German lawmakers and a filmmaker have received Apple threat notifications warning that their iPhones may have been targeted with sophisticated spyware, according to the German government, which confirmed the alerts on Tuesday. The notifications, which Apple sends to users it believes were targeted by state-backed attackers, did not identify the spyware operator or the specific tool used, and Berlin said it could not yet determine who was behind the attempted intrusions. The development follows a pattern of similar warnings issued to politicians and officials across Europe, including in Belgium and the Czech Republic, and comes amid heightened concern over mercenary surveillance tools such as NSO Group's Pegasus. Germany's domestic intelligence agency has previously warned about the risks posed by commercial spyware to government officials and lawmakers. The incident underscores growing cybersecurity risks to European political institutions, and officials are expected to investigate whether any data was compromised, with further details on the scope of the attacks likely to emerge as Apple and German authorities continue their inquiries.