On Tuesday morning, many opposition leaders including Shashi Tharoor, Mahua Moitra, Pawan Khera and others alleged that A message has come from Apple that there may be a government sponsored attack on their phones sharing the screenshot of the same on X (formerly twitter). On the other hand, the central government took the allegations seriously and said that investigation has been started and will go to the bottom of the matter.
Received text & email from Apple warning me Govt trying to hack into my phone & email. @HMOIndia – get a life. Adani & PMO bullies – your fear makes me pity you. @priyankac19 – you, I , & 3 other INDIAns have got it so far . pic.twitter.com/2dPgv14xC0
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) October 31, 2023
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has sent a notice to Apple on the same as soon as the issue came into limelight.
Seeing the message becoming a political issue, Apple gave clarification, saying that such messages have been sent to 150 countries. The message is not related to any government and can be wrong, “does not attribute the threat notification to any specific state-sponsored attacker.”
Electronics and IT Secretary S Krishnan has said that CERT-In is investigating the hacking threat message issue in #Apple Iphones.
Talking to the media Mr Krishnan said, notice has been sent to @Apple in this regard. He hoped that Apple will cooperate in the investigation. pic.twitter.com/nl0D0dUXIe
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) November 2, 2023
Akhilesh Yadav also made allegations in a press conference. He sneered, “What will the government gain by spying on my phone? What will happen by spying on someone else, when the people of the country are against them. Further, the SP chief added, “It is very sad that this (phone hacking) information was received early in the morning. This type of message has reached the mobile through Apple Company. In the message, it has been said that your mobile phone is being hacked or spied on by a government agency or government. It is very sad that they (the ruling party) want to destroy your freedom and privacy in our democracy. After all, why is this spying happening?”
The message shared by Apple read that it “believes you are being targeted by state-sponsored attackers who are trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID (email id). These attackers are likely targeting you individually because of who you are or what you do.”
