‘Unprecedented’ number of Apple users received recent spyware alert, say investigators
‘Unprecedented’ number of Apple users received recent spyware alert, say investigators
调查人员称，近期收到苹果间谍软件警报的用户数量“史无前例”
An 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. 据调查此类事件的专家称，近期有史无前例数量的苹果用户报告称，他们收到了关于其设备可能遭到间谍软件攻击的威胁通知。
Several people publicly and privately reported receiving Apple’s spyware alerts over the weekend, after Apple sent out a new wave of notifications on Friday alerting customers in 110 countries that they had been targeted with powerful spyware. 上周末，多人在公开和私下渠道报告收到了苹果的间谍软件警报。此前，苹果在周五发出了一波新的通知，提醒 110 个国家的客户，他们已成为强大间谍软件的目标。
From time to time, the technology giant sends these types of alerts in batches to customers that it believes have been either targeted or compromised with malware normally used by governments, which the company refers to as “mercenary spyware.” 这家科技巨头会不定期地向其认为已成为目标或被恶意软件入侵的客户批量发送此类警报，苹果将这些恶意软件称为“雇佣兵间谍软件”（mercenary spyware），通常由政府使用。
In the last few years, Apple says it has alerted people in more than 150 countries. The latest batch appears to have been the largest yet, per one of the digital rights groups that Apple suggests victims of spyware reach out to for help. 苹果表示，在过去几年中，已向 150 多个国家的用户发出过此类警报。据苹果建议受害者寻求帮助的数字权利组织之一称，最新的一批警报似乎是规模最大的一次。
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. Access Now 调查团队负责人穆罕默德·阿尔-马斯卡蒂（Mohammed Al-Maskati）负责审查和调查求助热线的报告。他告诉 TechCrunch，自周五以来，他们收到的求助人数创下了历史新高，其中包括过去曾收到过威胁通知的人。
Al-Maskati said the number is around 30% to 40% more than the nonprofit’s investigators usually receive after Apple sends out new notifications. Cybersecurity firm iVerify also confirmed to TechCrunch that it was seeing an influx in threat notifications from Apple. 阿尔-马斯卡蒂表示，这一数字比该非营利组织调查人员在苹果通常发出新通知后收到的求助量高出约 30% 到 40%。网络安全公司 iVerify 也向 TechCrunch 证实，他们观察到苹果发出的威胁通知激增。
An unusually large number of people have also publicly reported receiving these notifications over the weekend as well, according to several social media posts. 根据多篇社交媒体帖子显示，上周末也有异常多的人公开报告收到了这些通知。
One of them is a Ukraine Armed Forces soldier who said he is fighting the war against Russia. The soldier, who asked to remain anonymous to protect himself, said that he initially thought it was a scam, until he verified it with Apple. 其中一名受害者是乌克兰武装部队的一名士兵，他表示自己正在参与对俄战争。这名要求匿名以保护自己的士兵说，他起初以为这是诈骗，直到他向苹果公司进行了核实。
“I was a bit surprised to be honest, I wouldn’t have thought I was important enough for them to target me like this. I am flattered though,” the soldier told TechCrunch. The soldier also said that he is aware of other people in Ukraine’s military who have received the same notification. “They were a bit worried,” he said. “老实说，我有点惊讶，我没想到自己重要到会被这样针对。不过我感到受宠若惊，”这名士兵告诉 TechCrunch。他还表示，他知道乌克兰军队中还有其他人收到了同样的通知。“他们有点担心，”他说。
The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment, asking whether it was aware of other Ukrainians, particularly soldiers, receiving these notifications. 乌克兰计算机应急响应小组（CERT-UA）未回应 TechCrunch 的置评请求，该请求询问其是否知晓其他乌克兰人（特别是士兵）收到了这些通知。
John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at The Citizen Lab, a digital rights group that has investigated government spyware attacks for more than 15 years, told TechCrunch that the reports show that spyware attacks may be more prevalent than people realize. 数字权利组织“公民实验室”（The Citizen Lab）的高级研究员约翰·斯科特-雷尔顿（John Scott-Railton）表示，这些报告表明间谍软件攻击可能比人们意识到的更为普遍。该组织已调查政府间谍软件攻击超过 15 年。
“The scale and geographic diversity of public posts about receiving notifications are pretty unprecedented,” said Scott-Railton. “For every public notification like this, you can imagine there’s a huge notification iceberg that the public will never learn about. This is a clear indication that something bigger is going on.” “关于收到通知的公开帖子，其规模和地理多样性是史无前例的，”斯科特-雷尔顿说。“对于每一个这样的公开通知，你可以想象背后隐藏着巨大的通知冰山，公众永远不会知晓。这清楚地表明，有更大的事情正在发生。”
Both Al-Maskati and Scott-Railton said that the volume of people receiving the alerts could also be attributed to Apple’s new methods of alerting users. Starting 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. 阿尔-马斯卡蒂和斯科特-雷尔顿都表示，收到警报的人数激增也可能归因于苹果新的通知方式。从今年开始，苹果会在用户的 iPhone 锁屏、设置应用、关联的 Apple ID 电子邮箱中通知用户，并在用户登录网页版 Apple 账户时进行提醒。
“Apple’s new notification method has helped raise awareness of the issue’s importance, making it harder for users to ignore,” Al-Maskati said. “苹果新的通知方式有助于提高人们对这一问题重要性的认识，使用户更难忽视它，”阿尔-马斯卡蒂说。
Apple did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. If you’ve received one of these notifications, take it seriously. If you are not a journalist, dissident, or human rights defender, there are other organizations that can help you investigate. 苹果未回应 TechCrunch 的置评请求。如果您收到了此类通知，请务必认真对待。如果您不是记者、异见人士或人权捍卫者，还有其他组织可以帮助您进行调查。
If 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. 如果您尚未开启，请按照苹果和专家的建议，开启“锁定模式”（Lockdown Mode）。这是一项特殊的安全功能，旨在增加黑客攻击 iPhone、iPad 和 Mac 电脑的难度。苹果表示，目前尚未发现任何开启了“锁定模式”的用户遭到黑客攻击。