iPhone Hacking: Opposition leaders share ‘State-sponsored’ hacking attempt alert message, BJP asks to file FIR

New Delhi: Opposition MPs on Tuesday claimed to have received alerts from Apple, warning of “state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise” their phones.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, Trinamool Congress’ Mahua Moitra, Congress’ Pawan Khera, Shashi Tharoor, KC Venugopal and Supriya Sule, CPI(M) Sitaram Yechury, AAP’s Raghav Chadha and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi have shared the alert sent by Apple on X (formerly Twitter). Moitra further claimed that Akhilesh Yadav has also received such warning.

Newspaper editors Sriram Karri and Siddharth Varadarajan are said to have received similar alerts on his iPhone.

Following the ‘hack row’, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held a press conference and accused the Narendra Modi government of doing everything possible to hide that they had “sold the government to Adani”. “Tap our phones as much as they want, but we will not stop questioning you,” he said.

Multiple people working in his office have also received the alert.

Amid Opposition’s snooping charges, the iPhone manufacture issued a statement saying that Apple does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker. “State-sponsored attackers 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’s possible that some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms, or that some attacks are not detected. We are unable to provide information about what causes us to issue threat notifications, as that may help state-sponsored attackers adapt their behavior to evade detection,” it added.

The central government on Tuesday ordered an investigation and asked tech giant Apple to join the investigation with real, accurate information on the “alleged state-sponsored attacks”.

The Alert Message:

“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 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.”

Also, they have been asked to turn on the Lockdown Mode to fortify the iPhone from all possible threats. According to Apple, these notifications are triggered once its systems discover “activity consistent with a state-sponsored attack”. The manufacturer has yet to respond to this situation.