On Friday, Apple sent a new wave of warnings to users in 110 countries that their phones are being targeted by spyware. By Monday, so many people were seeking help that the researchers who verify these cases say they have never seen anything like it.

Mohammed al-Maskati, who directs the researcher team at Access Now, the organisation whose helpline Apple recommends to victims, says that since Friday the number of people getting in touch is 30 to 40 percent higher than usual after such notifications. Some of them had received a warning before too. The cybersecurity firm iVerify also confirmed it is seeing a surge.

Apple sends these messages in batches, to people it assesses to be targets of software the company calls „mercenary spyware” - tools normally used by states, not criminals. Over the past few years Apple says it has warned people in more than 150 countries. This wave, according to the organisations receiving the reports, is the largest so far.

One of those who received a warning is a soldier in the Ukrainian army fighting against Russia. He asked to stay anonymous and admits his first thought was a scam, until he checked with Apple. „I was surprised, honestly - I did not think I was important enough to be targeted like this”, he said. He knows of others in the Ukrainian army who got the same message. „They were a little worried”, he says.

John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at The Citizen Lab, a group that has been documenting state spyware attacks for more than 15 years, says the part that stings most. „The scale and geographic diversity of the public disclosures about these notifications really is unprecedented”, he says. „For every public notification like this, imagine how much stays below the surface and the public will never learn about it.”

Part of the explanation for the numbers is more mundane: since this year Apple notifies in four places at once - on the lock screen, in settings, at the linked email address and when signing in to the account online. It used to be easier not to notice. „The new notification method has helped people realise how important this is”, says al-Maskati. So part of the spike is awareness, not necessarily more attacks. That is a distinction worth keeping in mind.

But only part. Because if a Ukrainian soldier at the front is getting a message that someone with a state budget is watching him through his phone, then the list of people „not important enough” to be a target is far shorter than we would like to believe. This software is bought by governments, sold legally, and the client list is nowhere public.

Apple did not respond to questions sent by journalists. The company advises turning on Lockdown Mode, which closes off the most common routes of intrusion - and says it knows of no case where someone with Lockdown Mode enabled was hacked. Advice that costs one click, for a problem that costs millions.