Centre has launched investigation into Apple’s alerts to Opposition MPs: Vaishnaw

“We have asked Apple to cooperate in the investigation, because this is a matter of great concern to us,” Mr. Vaishnaw said

Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw. File. | Photo Credit: ANI

Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters in Bhopal that the Government has launched an investigation into the alerts sent by Apple to several Opposition members of parliament that “State-sponsored attackers may be targeting” their iPhones. Mr. Vaishnaw downplayed the alerts by citing Apple’s claim that they have been sent to people in 150 countries.

However, the company said that this claim is not limited to this last week, and is for the last few years in which Apple has been issuing such notifications.

“I would like to clearly say that the Government is very concerned on this issue, and that we will get to the bottom of this,” Mr. Vaishnaw said. “This country has compulsive critics who wake up everyday to criticise the Government on any given issue. These people cannot stand seeing this country’s progress.”

“We have asked Apple to cooperate in the investigation, because this is a matter of great concern to us,” Mr. Vaishnaw added.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, Trinamool Congress’ Mahua Moitra, Congress’ Pawan Khera and Shashi Tharoor, CPI(M) Sitaram Yechury, AAP’s Raghav Chadha and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi are among those who shared the alert sent by Apple on X (formerly Twitter). Ms. Moitra alleged Akhilesh Yadav has also received such warning, but the Samajwadi Party chief has not yet confirmed the same.

“ALERT: State-sponsored attackers may be targeting your iPhone,” the message received by MPs from “threat-notifications@apple.com” said. “Apple believes you are being targeted by state- sponsored attackers who are trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID. These attackers are likely targeting you individually because of who you are or what you do. If your device is compromised by a state-sponsored attacker, they may be able to remotely access your sensitive data, communications, or even the camera and microphone. While it’s possible this is a false alarm, please take this warning seriously,” the message read.

An Apple spokesperson told The Hindu that they were not specifically saying the Indian government was responsible, though they did not rule this out, saying that they weren’t attributing these alerts “to any specific state-sponsored attacker.” It is yet unclear if Apple executives in India were aware that these alerts were going out in advance.

Apple did not respond to queries on whether the Indian government asked them about these alerts, or if they would provide more information on how they detected these hacking attempts if asked.