Apple met with Thai officials earlier this week to discuss spyware warnings received by politicians and other users in the country, Bloomberg reports.
The discussions followed Apple's October 29 threat notifications, which reached users in 99 countries. Apple told Bloomberg that it issued the warnings after identifying activity consistent with mercenary spyware attacks, raising concerns about surveillance of Thai political figures.
After meeting Apple representatives, Thailand's Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaichanok Chidchob said that the alerts alone do not establish that attackers gained access to the recipients' devices. Authorities also had no evidence connecting the attempted intrusions to Pegasus, the surveillance software made by NSO Group.
Thailand was previously the subject of a documented Pegasus campaign. A 2022 investigation by Citizen Lab, working with Thai organizations iLaw and DigitalReach, confirmed infections affecting at least 30 people between October 2020 and November 2021. Those affected included activists, academics, lawyers, and others connected to the country's pro-democracy movement. Apple's warnings to Thai users in November 2021 helped initiate that investigation, with recipients contacting researchers for assistance.
Apple has been issuing threat notifications since 2021, reaching users in more than 150 countries overall. The company says mercenary spyware operations devote substantial resources to targeting particular individuals, often because of their profession or public role.
According to Apple's threat notification guidance, its warnings reflect high confidence that a user has been targeted, although detection cannot provide absolute certainty. Apple withholds details about how it identifies attacks to prevent operators from adapting their techniques, and its notifications do not attribute responsibility to particular attackers or regions.
Recipients are advised to enable Lockdown Mode and obtain specialist help. A genuine warning can also be checked by signing in directly to account.apple.com.
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