Journalists, activists, human rights defenders, and opposition politicians have found their mobile phones targeted by advanced spyware tools such as Pegasus or Predator. These tools are highly intrusive as they practically provide full access to the device and are difficult to discover without applying digital forensics techniques on the phone.

Look out for threat notifications - Apple sends threat notifications, i.e. messages notifying the user that their device might be targeted with mercenary spyware attacks. In case you receive such a message, the advice is to take it seriously and contact organisations such as SHARE Foundation, Amnesty International, Access Now, or Citizen Lab.

Google does not send threat notifications for Android devices as Apple does for their products. However, Google might similarly notify you in case there is suspicion that your account has been targeted by government-backed attackers.

Turn on Lockdown Mode on Apple devices - To stop advanced threats, such as Pegasus or Predator spyware, from compromising your Apple devices, enable Lockdown Mode. This disables certain features on your device (iPhone, iPad, Mac) and it somewhat affects the user experience, but is known to stop sophisticated cyberattacks.

Update your phone - Make sure that all the apps on your phone are regularly updated and that you also have the latest version of iOS or Android. Operating system updates also contain security patches, which are critical for preventing spyware from infecting your device.

Be cautious of suspicious messages or calls - These spyware tools are usually delivered through messages or calls from unknown foreign numbers, so try to remember if you received a very suspicious message at some point.