Quoting the government portion
Apple declined to elaborate on the specific spyware attack since doing so could tip off the attackers about the company’s detection techniques. Still, the email references commercial surveillance provider NSO Group, an Israeli company notorious for developing the Pegasus spyware, which can sometimes hijack a smartphone simply by sending the user a single message. In the past, Pegasus has been found on phones belonging to activists, journalists, and politicians, with additional evidence pointing to governments possibly buying access to the spyware tech.
These spyware attacks can cost millions of dollars to develop. They can then expire once the software vulnerabilities they exploit are patched. As a result, commercial spyware providers and their government customers tend to deploy such attacks in a targeted fashion, rather than through mass deployment. Still, Apple’s alert underscores how pervasive commercial spyware has become, targeting users in nearly half of the world’s countries.