The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Monday issued an alert warning of bad actors actively leveraging commercial spyware and remote access trojans (RATs) to target users of mobile messaging applications. "These cyber actors use sophisticated targeting and social engineering techniques to deliver spyware and gain unauthorized access to a victim's messaging app, facilitating the deployment of additional malicious payloads that can further compromise the victim's mobile device," the agency said.
"The only system-level iOS attacks we observe in the wild come from mercenary spyware - extremely sophisticated exploit chains, historically associated with state actors, that cost millions of dollars to develop and are used against a very small number of targeted individuals," the company said. These are the attacks wielded against activists, journalists, and politicians. (Apple is donating 1,000 iPhone 17s to rights groups that work with people at risk of targeted attacks, according to .)