Apple Warns Users About Targeted Spyware
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Apple appears to be sending out a large wave of warnings to users it believes were targeted by mercenary spyware.
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TechCrunchAn unprecedented number of Apple customers have reported receiving a recent threat notification alerting them to suspected spyware attacks targeting their devices, according to experts who investigate these types of incidents.
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Mohammed Al-Maskati, the director of the Access Now team of investigators who review and investigate reports to the helpline, told TechCrunch that since Friday, they have received a record high number of people reaching out for help. This includes people who had already received threat notifications in the past.
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GizmodoBut this latest round appears to be on a different scale. Access Now, a digital rights group that Apple directs targeted users to for help, told TechCrunch that it received a record number of people reaching out following the latest alerts. The group’s Director, Mohammed Al-Maskati, said the number was about 30% to 40% higher than the organization typically sees after Apple sends a new round of notifications.
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One reason for the uptick could be a change in how Apple warns users, which makes the alerts much harder to miss.
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TechCrunch“Apple’s new notification method has helped raise awareness of the issue’s importance, making it harder for users to ignore,” Al-Maskati said.
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Starting this year, Apple began displaying threat notifications directly on users’ iPhone lock screens and in the Settings app, in addition to sending them by email and displaying them on a user’s Apple Account page. Apple notes that notification types can vary depending on a user’s device model and software version.
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TechCrunchStarting this year, Apple now notifies users on their iPhone lock screen, in their Settings app, via the email associated with their Apple account, and when users log in to their Apple Account on the web.
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Apple advises anyone who receives an alert to enable Lockdown Mode, a security feature that restricts certain phone functions to make successful attacks more difficult. For instance, it blocks most message attachment types, limits incoming FaceTime calls from unfamiliar contacts, and restricts some web browsing features.
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TechCrunchIf you haven’t already, as Apple and experts suggest, turn on Lockdown Mode, a special security feature designed to make it harder to hack iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers. Apple has said that it is not aware of anyone who had Lockdown Mode enabled getting hacked. Updated with additional data from iVerify.
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Apple appears to have accidentally leaked its camera-equipped AirPods in a video tucked into the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate, MacRumors reported. The new AirPods are said to have a camera that can feed low-res imagery to Apple's long-delayed AI Siri assistant, which can then tell the viewer what they're seeing via a new function called Visual Intelligence. They were first tipped by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman back in May.
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The VergeWe may have our first glimpse of Apple’s rumored camera-equipped AirPods, thanks to a video that MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 Release Candidate. The short video clip features a man — who is wearing the new AirPods — holding up a book with the cover displayed, so that Visual Intelligence can see the book title.
TechCrunchApple seems to be already preparing launch materials for its upcoming AirPods with a camera, a leaked video in the latest macOS update spotted by MacRumors suggests.
GizmodoWhat we can say for certain about this video is… very little. MacRumors says it found it somewhere in a new “release candidate” version of macOS Tahoe, and it’s reasonable to conclude that the AirPods in the video are equipped with at least one camera—or something like a camera. Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo has been claiming Apple would release something like this since Joe Biden was President, and it very much looks like that prediction could soon come true.
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This is a sensitive matter for Apple. As I wrote last month, anonymously-sourced reporting from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says the company is a bit worried about releasing a smart glasses product, a move that could tarnish its privacy-friendly image. AirPods with cameras—if they existed—would arguably come across as even sneakier than glasses with cameras.
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The VergeGiven those Visual Intelligence features, the AirPods are poised to compete with other camera-equipped AI gadgets like Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, though Apple is also reportedly working on its own smart glasses too. While the AirPods’ cameras “aren’t designed” to snap photos or videos, the stealthy form factor may exacerbate the existing privacy concerns surrounding camera-equipped AI products, following Meta’s “pervert glasses” backlash.
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Apple's iOS 26.6.1 patches 29 security flaws - here's why you'll want to install it
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CNETApple released iOS 26.6.1 on Monday, Aug. 17, about a month before I expect the tech company to release iOS 27 to the general public. While the upcoming iOS 27 revamps Siri and other internal iPhone systems, iOS 26.6.1 brings over 20 bug fixes and security patches to your device.
EngadgetWe reverse engineered Apple's unusual macOS 26.6.1 patch to understand... pic.twitter.com/WRIIwKx6yI
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Sonos finally added Live Activities controls for your iPhone lock screen The frequently requested feature is now available with the latest update to the Sonos iOS app.
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EngadgetThere's an app update that takes advantage of Apple's Live Activities system. Sonos just released an app update that brings speaker controls to the iPhone lock screen. This is thanks to an integration with Apple's Live Activities notifications system. Sonos is calling this a "much requested, anticipated and needed feature."
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Once enabled, the lock screen will let people keep an eye on what's playing. Users will be able to adjust the volume and switch songs, but only once the phone has been unlocked via Face ID or a passcode. When playback stops, the live activity will disappear from the lock screen after 15 minutes.
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The VergeOnce it’s turned on, the Live Activity will appear “after you initiate playback and then close the app” and displays the name of the group or room where audio was last playing from and the title of what you’re listening to. After playback stops, the Live Activity will automatically disappear from your lock screen after 15 minutes.
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A few weeks back, Apple released several macOS security updates to address a serious vulnerability within its Screen Sharing tool. At the time, the bug hadn't been spotted in the wild. It was more of a "better safe than sorry" type of thing. Now it's actually been found wreaking havoc in the Netherlands, according to a report by Ars Technica.
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CNETMac users who haven’t installed the latest security updates for their operating system could be in danger of exposure to a major screen-sharing vulnerability. According to researchers in the Netherlands, the exploit has already led to online hacking for cryptocurrency mining.
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According to Apple’s update documentation, the vulnerability could allow an attacker on the network to authenticate to screen sharing without valid credentials. That could mean not only viewing your screen, but also opening up files, spying on private chats and even taking control of your keyboard and mouse or trackpad.
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EngadgetPoC for a critical vulnerability in Apple macOS Screen Sharing (CVE-2026-65400).
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As sites including 9to5Mac and Ars Technica have reported, Apple recently addressed the issue with security updates to its three most recent MacOS versions: Sonoma 14.8.9, Sequoia 15.7.9 and Tahoe 26.6.1.
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EngadgetAs previously mentioned, Apple has already issued software fixes. A software update was recommended back when this vulnerability was, more or less, theoretical. Now it's an absolute necessity. The bug impacts Tahoe, Sequoia and Sonoma, and there are new versions of all three.
5 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 Gizmodo According to TechCrunch, the company started sending out its latest round of notifications to users in 110 countries on Thursday. Additionally, an unusually large number of people have also reported receiving the alerts over the weekend.
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02 ZDNet Among the bugs are ones that could trigger compromises or crashes. No flaw has been exploited in the wild yet, but you should still update.
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03 Engadget Codenames inside Tahoe 27.6 including V62, V63, V64, V67 and V68 likely refer to upcoming iPhone models, namely the iPhone Air 2, iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, iPhone 18 and iPhone Ultra, aka The Folding One, respectively. Those are all expected to be shown off at Apple's usual September iPhone event, though the company has yet to announce an exact date for that.
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04 TechCrunch MacRumous reports that these new AirPods have a camera that can be used to examine objects in front of the user and answer questions about it. The publication apparently found a line in the software code that suggests the AirPods will notify you if your hair or something else is covering the camera.
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05 CNET If you haven’t upgraded to those operating system versions, you may be exposing your system to a loss of control through the screen-sharing function, which allows you to wirelessly mirror or extend your Mac‘s desktop to a TV, tablet or other device’s screen.
Fact Corroboration
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Sources (6)
- verge
- techcrunch
- gizmodo
- engadget
- zdnet
- cnet