‘State-sponsored attacks’, Apple’s alert messages set the ball rolling for a political face-off between the INDIA Alliance and the BJP

Several leaders of the Opposition INDIA Alliance including Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress' Shashi Tharoor and Pawan Khera, Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, and Aam Aadmi Party's Raghav Chadha on Tuesday shared screenshots of alerts that they received from Apple warning them that ‘state-sponsored attackers’ maybe targeting their iPhones, reigniting the snooping debate. These alert notifications have raked up the 2021 Pegasus controversy, with the leaders alleging this kind of State surveillance is the BJP Government’s attack on the country’s ‘democratic interests.’

The alerts sent by Apple 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," Apple While it's possible this is a false alarm, please take this warning seriously."

TMC MP Mahua Moitra was the first to raise an alarm over the issue. Taking to ‘X’ she posted about the ‘threat’ she received, tagged Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi to her post and stated that she, Chaturvedi, and 3 other ‘INDIAns’ have received such cautionary messages. “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”, posted Moitra.

Moitra posted a series of tweets calling the ruling BJP Government, specifically the PM and the Home Minister ‘Peeping Toms’, and stated that the prevailing situation ‘is worse than emergency.’ The MP further stated that several others of the Opposition INDIA alliance, such as Akhilesh Yadav, Raghav Chaddha, Pawan Khera, Shashi Tharoor, Sitaram Yechury, and Priyanka Chaturvedi have been targeted. Moreover, she alleged that 3 officials from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s office also received similar notifications.

Soon after, several leaders of the Opposition INDIA Alliance reported having received similar precautionary alerts from Apple.

“Wonder who? Shame on you”, posted Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, soliciting the Home Minister’s Office’s attention to such a breach. “Their might can’t silence our voice. Will keep holding the government to account. With or without this unethical and illegal state sponsored attempts at hacking,” added the Shiv Sena MP. In addition, Chaturvedi stated that Apple has confirmed the authenticity of the messages received by opposition members. “Apple says it hasn’t specified who the state is in their ‘state sponsored’ warning so it now becomes incumbent on the government to tell the nation which are the state agencies (across geographies) allowed to get away with such sophisticated hack? Isn’t the government responsible to ensure our data is safe and not compromised. Why would state actors from other geographies want to target India’s opposition?” questioned Chaturvedi.

Taking to ‘X’, Shashi Tharoor tagged the Prime Minister's Office and wrote, “Received from an Apple ID, threat-notifications@apple.com, which I have verified. Authenticity confirmed. Glad to keep underemployed officials busy at the expenses of taxpayers like me! Nothing more important to do? @PMOIndia@INCIndia@kharge@RahulGandhi”.

As reported by Hindustan Times, Tharoor, Khera, Chaturvedi, and Varadarajan received the alerts and the follow-up emails between 11:30 p.m. on Monday and 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday. Tharoor claimed to have received the email at 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chaddha issued a lengthy statement on the social media platform ‘X’, condemning the purported hacking attempt as an attack on the country's "democratic interests" and people. "Every Indian needs to be worried. Because today it is me, tomorrow it could be YOU," said the AAP MP.

In a statement, Apple has clarified its stance on the ‘state-sponsored attack.’ "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 in the future", reads the statement.

Calling it ‘distraction politics’, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a jibe at the BJP Government. The Wayanad MP alleged that the Opposition leaders who received such notifications were all being targeted for asking questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and the BJP government over its alleged allegiance to industrialist Gautam Adani. “We are not going to get cowed down. We are fighters. We will not step back. Jitni tapping karni hai kar lo… It does not matter to me… If you want my phone… I will give it to you,” Gandhi said. Rahul Gandhi further stated that several people in his office also received these notifications. “This is clearly a sign of panic. This is not just one person. This is the whole Opposition. This is not done by somebody who is not scared, who is honest and who believes in themselves. This is the work of criminals, of thieves. Only thieves and criminals would want to do this,” added Gandhi.

The TMC also strongly condemned the ‘actions of the Union government for the illegal surveillance of opposition leaders.’ Taking to ‘X’, the political party posted, “We strongly condemn the actions of the Union government for the illegal surveillance of opposition leaders. This is not the India we know, as the union govt seem to disregard laws, the constitution, and the judiciary. It's as if we're facing an undeclared emergency. In the past too our Hon'ble National Gen Secy & his associates were targeted by using Pegasus as a snooping tool Moreover, the SC has stayed the entire enquiry which is surprising and unfortunate.”

The government has slammed the "compulsive critics" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP Government. Hitting back at the claims by the Opposition leaders, BJP’s IT head Amit Malviya said, “Usual suspects raising a storm over ‘state-sponsored’ attack and pretending to be martyrs is all good… But this hullabaloo, in all probability, like in the past, will end up as damp squib! Why not wait for Apple to clarify? Or is it too much to let go an opportunity to outrage?”

Taking to ‘X’, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishaw posted that Apple has stated that its "threat notifications" have been given in 150 countries and that some may be "false alarms." Vaishnaw further stated that the government has ordered a thorough inquiry into these communications and urged anyone who has received such messages to cooperate in the investigation.

Similar alert notifications were received by Siddharth Varadarajan, the founder and editor of ‘The Wire’, and emails from Samir Saran of the Observer Research Foundation.​