Apple Alerts French Users to the Fourth Spyware Campaign in 2025, As Per CERT-FR
Apple Alerts French Users to the Fourth Spyware Campaign in 2025, As Per CERT-FR
The Computer Emergency Response Team of France (CERT-FR) has alerted French consumers to a spyware operation that targets their devices.
The government said the notices were sent out on September 3, 2025, making it the fourth time this year that Apple has alerted residents in the county that no less than one of the gadgets linked to their iCloud accounts may have been hacked as part of highly-targeted attacks.
The organization withheld more information about the cause of these alerts. Notifications of threats were previously sent on March 5, April 29, and June 25. These notifications have been sent by Apple since November 2021.
“These sophisticated assaults target people for their status or function: journalists, lawyers, activists, politicians, senior officials, members of steering committees of strategic sectors, etc,” stated CERT-FR.
Less than a month has passed since it was discovered that an Apple iOS bug (CVE-2025-43300, CVSS score: 8.8) was linked to a WhatsApp security hole (CVE-2025-55177, CVSS score: 5.4) as part of zero-click attacks.
Less than 200 people who might have been the campaign’s target received in-app threat notices, WhatsApp later admitted to The Hacker News. The identity of the commercial spyware vendor responsible for the activities is unknown.
The revelation coincides with Apple’s implementation of Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE), a security feature in the most recent iPhone models, to address memory corruption vulnerabilities and hinder surveillance vendors, who usually use these zero-days to install spyware on a target’s phone.
According to research released last week by the Atlantic Council, compared to other key investing nations like Israel, Italy, and the United Kingdom, the number of U.S. investors in spyware and surveillance technologies increased from 11 in 2023 to 31 last year.
Two holding businesses, 55 individuals, 34 investors, 18 partners, seven subsidiaries, 10 suppliers, and four vendors have all been identified by the report as having established themselves in the spyware industry within the past 12 months. This includes providers like Italy’s SIO and Israel’s Bindecy, as well as new spyware organizations in Malaysia, Panama, and Japan.
“The quantity of U.S.-based organizations engaging in the spyware market is three times greater than in the next three highest countries with the most investors,” the research stated. It also stated that “56% of investors are incorporated in Israel, the United States, Italy, and the United Kingdom.”
“Tesellers and brokers now are key actors in the spyware market – comprising more sample market share than previously demonstrated – and oftentimes are under-observed and not readily addressed in current policy deliberations.”
About The Author:
Yogesh Naager is a content marketer who specializes in the cybersecurity and B2B space. Besides writing for the News4Hackers blogs, he also writes for brands including Craw Security, Bytecode Security, and NASSCOM.
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