Several Opposition leaders on Tuesday claimed they had received an alert from Apple warning them of “state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise” their iPhones and posted purported screenshots of the message on their X handles.
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Government Of India has ordered an investigation following opposition leaders claim that they have received a warning from Apple company of state-sponsored attackers targeting their phones.
Talking to media on Tuesday, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the centre is concerned over the issue and it will get to the root of the issue. He added that there are some compulsive critics in the country who have a habit of criticising the government over every issue.
Earlier, in a series of social media posts, Mr. Vaishnaw said the government is serious about protecting the privacy and security of all citizens. He also said, the government has asked Apple to join the investigation with real, accurate information on the alleged state sponsored attacks.
The Minister added that the information given by the Apple on this issue seems vague and non-specific in nature. He also said, Apple states these notifications may be based on information which is ‘incomplete or imperfect’. It also states that some Apple threat notifications maybe false alarms or some attacks are not detected.
Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the government wants Apple to clarify if its devices are secure and why ‘threat notifications’ were sent to people in over 150 countries, given the company’s repeated claims about its products being designed for privacy.
In a series of posts on X, Vaishnaw said the information by Apple of its notification about ‘state-sponsored attacks’ “seems vague and non-specific in nature”.
Opposition MPs from Mahua Moitra of TMC to Shashi Tharoor of Congress took to X to post warning messages they received on their iPhones about the possible hacking attempt.
Reached for comments, Apple said it does not attribute threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attackers and that it cannot provide information on what causes such warnings.
“Apple does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker,” Apple said in a statement.
State-sponsored attackers, it said, 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 is possible that some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms, or that some attacks are not detected,” it said.
It, however, did not say what triggered warnings received by MPs like Mahua Moitra of TMC.
“We are unable to provide information about what causes us to issue threat notifications, as that may help state-sponsored attackers adapt their behaviour to evade detection in the future,” Apple said.
Several Opposition leaders on Tuesday claimed they had received an alert from Apple warning them of “state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise” their iPhones and posted purported screenshots of the message on their X handles.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, Trinamul Congress’ Mahua Moitra, Aam Aadmi Party’s Raghav Chadha, Congress’ Shashi Tharoor and his party’s media and publicity department head Pawan Khera shared the message from Apple on X. CPI(M)general secretary Sitaram Yechury also received a similar message, sources in the party said.
