Apple sent alerts on state-sponsored attackers targeting phone, allege Mahua Moitra, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Shashi Tharoor, others

At least seven Indian political leaders, TMC’s Mahua Moitra, Shiv Sena UBT’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, Congress's Shashi Tharoor and its Chairman of Media & Publicity have said that they received alerts from Apple warning them about “state-sponsored attackers" targeting their iPhone. They took to social media to share screenshots of the alerts they received from Apple.

The subject of the alert read ‘ALERT: State-sponsored attackers may be targeting your iPhone’. It then reads: “Apple believes that 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. While it’s possible this is a false alarm, please take this warning seriously.”

Mahua Moitra lashed out at the BJP government and accused them of targetting her for raising questions on Adani. “Wonder who? Shame on you,” said Priyanka Chaturevedi, tagging the Home Ministry and calling for its attention. In a separate tweet, she asked the HMO to investigate the snooping.

"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?" said Tharoor.

AAP MP Raghav Chadha, AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi and INC social media chairperson Supriya Shrinate also took to social media to share screenshots of the alerts they received. 

Business Today has reached out to Apple for a comment on the alerts.

According to Apple Support, “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.”

The company has urged users who have faced such threats to update their devices to the latest software, protect devices with a passcode, use a two-factor authentication and a strong password for Apple ID, install apps from App Store, use strong and unique passwords online, and avoid clicking on links or attachments from unknown users.

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