Apple will let you know if your iPhone has been hacked

Apple has announced that it is planning to warn users if they are suspected of being hacked by "state-sponsored" threat actors. The move comes after the company’s lawsuit against NSO, which created the Pegasus spyware that authoritarian governments have used to break into Apple devices.

If Apple detects that someone has hacked into an Apple device, the user will be notified in two ways. When a user accesses and logs into appleid.apple.com, Apple will first display a Threat Notification at the top of the page. Apple will also send an email and an iMessage notification to the phone number and email address linked with the user's Apple ID. Each of these danger warnings will provide instructions on how the user may take further precautions to protect their devices.

According to Apple, there is no perfect system for detecting state-sponsored attacks. Even if you receive a threat notification, it does not always mean that your phone has been hacked by a foreign government:

State-sponsored attackers are very well-funded and sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time. Detecting such attacks relies on threat intelligence signals that are often imperfect and incomplete. It’s possible that some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms, or that some attacks are not detected. We are unable to provide information about what causes us to issue threat notifications, as that may help state-sponsored attackers adapt their behavior to evade detection in the future

Apple's threat notifications will never require you to open files, click on links, install apps, or expose passwords. You should log in to the Apple ID website to check if a notification is real.

How to avoid being the victim of a hack

• Update devices to the latest software, as that includes the latest security fixes
• Protect devices with a passcode
• Use two-factor authentication and a strong password for Apple ID
• Install apps from the App Store
• Use strong and unique passwords online
• Don’t click on links or attachments from unknown senders