The Indian government has downplayed claims made by opposition MPs regarding surveillance and hacking attempts on their phones. These claims were based on messages from Apple warning of “state-sponsored” attackers. IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw referred to Apple’s statement, which mentioned that notifications were sent in 150 nations using incomplete and imperfect data, suggesting that some of these notifications might be false alarms. However, Vaishnaw also emphasized that the government takes citizen privacy and security seriously and has ordered a detailed investigation. He further stated that Apple has been asked to provide accurate information to aid in the investigation of alleged state-sponsored attacks.
Vaishnaw commented on the non-specific nature of the alerts, noting that Apple claims user IDs are securely encrypted on devices, making it difficult to access them without the user’s explicit permission. He also described the opposition MPs, including Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena (UBT) and Mahua Moitra of Trinamool Congress, as “compulsive critics” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Vaishnaw accused them of engaging in destructive politics and attempting to distract people from the progress made under PM Modi’s leadership. He mentioned the previous Pegasus spyware scandal and the unsuccessful investigation conducted under judicial supervision.
Sources have informed NDTV that the government plans to write to Apple regarding the use of the term “state-sponsored” attackers. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the junior IT Minister, has also raised questions for the company to address. Apple, on the other hand, has clarified that it does not attribute notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker. In a statement, the company explained that state-sponsored attackers are well-funded and sophisticated, and detecting their attacks relies on imperfect and incomplete threat intelligence signals.
This controversy surrounding “state-sponsored attackers” and alleged phone hacking of opposition MPs and others has emerged just days before Assembly elections in five states, including Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where the Congress party is in power, as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha election. It is worth noting that three individuals in Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s office also received “threat notifications.”
