The Union Information and Technology Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, addressed the concerns raised by several Opposition leaders who reported receiving alert messages from Apple, cautioning them about potential "state-sponsored attackers" targeting their iPhones. In an interview with India Today TV, Vaishnaw expressed the government's apprehension regarding this issue and highlighted the complexity of the case, which has prompted the involvement of relevant agencies and law enforcement.
He underscored that some Members of Parliament had alleged receiving these alerts from Apple, and he made it abundantly clear that the government takes this matter seriously. Apple, he noted, had disseminated these alert notifications to individuals in approximately 150 countries. Apple had also issued a clarification, stating that their devices cannot be hacked into, further emphasizing that the alerts are related to a system designed to notify users who might be targets of state-sponsored attackers.
Vaishnaw went on to criticize the MPs who raised these allegations, suggesting that their actions were driven by political motives rather than genuine concerns about the country's progress.
Earlier on the same day, Opposition leaders, including Priyanka Chaturvedi from Shiv Sena (UBT), Mahua Moitra from Trinamool Congress, Raghav Chadha from the Aam Aadmi Party, and Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Pawan Khera, had reported receiving these messages from Apple. These alerts cautioned them about potential "state-sponsored attackers" attempting remote compromises on their iPhones, and they shared screenshots of these warnings on their social media platforms.
In response to these reports, Apple clarified that its threat notifications are designed to alert users who may be individually targeted by state-sponsored attackers due to their identity or activities. These attacks are highly sophisticated, costly to develop, and challenging to detect and prevent. The notifications are sent to the iPhones of individuals in nearly 150 countries, and it is acknowledged that not all of these notifications may signify genuine threats, as the detection of such attacks relies on imperfect and incomplete threat intelligence signals.
Apple also stressed its inability to disclose the specific triggers for issuing threat notifications, as this knowledge could potentially help state-sponsored attackers adapt their tactics to evade detection in the future. This complexity underscores the multifaceted nature of the issue and the challenges in distinguishing between genuine threats and potential false alarms.
