Several in Opposition allege snooping after Apple phone alert, Govt rejects charge

A few journalists including The Wire’s Siddharth Varadarajan and Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project’s Ravi Nair and Anand Mangnale, and Observer Research Foundation president Samir Saran also said that they received such alerts from Apple.

As per screenshots shared by many in the list, the notification from 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.”

“While it’s possible this is a false alarm, please take this warning seriously,” it added.

The Opposition reacted sharply with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi – he said “all the people” in his office had received the warning – claiming they were all being targeted for questioning the government over its alleged patronage to the industrial group owned by Gautam Adani.

“We are not going to get cowed down. We are fighters,” Gandhi told a press conference at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi.

“Like the old Indian story in which a king’s life was in a caged parrot… That is exactly what is going on here… We have understood that the soul is there in the parrot and now we are attacking the soul. That is why all this is going on,” Gandhi said.

CPM general secretary Yechury and Sena (UBT)’s Chaturvedi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling it a “violation of fundamental rights”.

“What is the point in them (government) ordering a probe? Let them answer first whether they have actually bought the Pegasus (spyware) or not. The Supreme Court committee had said that they refused to cooperate. So what does it mean? All these point towards something fishy going on,” Yechury said.

TMC’s Mahua Moitra, who has been summoned by the Ethics Committee to respond to cash-for-query allegations against her, said she was writing to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to “protect Opposition MPs” and summon Home Ministry officials over the “our phones/emails being hacked”.

AAP’s Chadha said he got a warning “about a potential state-sponsored spyware attack on my phone”.

Alleging “snooping” months before general elections, Chadha said, “This notification is reminiscent of the Pegasus spyware scandal which also had targeted many voices that are critical of the BJP.”

Tharoor told The Indian Express it was time to make changes in the IT Act to bring all “kinds of surveillance using sophisticated software” under judicial purview. He said the alert from Apple came as “a rude surprise” to him.

“I understand that the government has said it would ask Apple to explain. But the source of such surveillance can never be easily proven. Theoretically, it is possible that some foreign actors are behind this… that they might want to know what the Opposition leaders are up to, but on the balance of probability, it is clearly done by people closer to home. All I can say is that it is not healthy for our democracy at all,” Tharoor said.