Apple alerts Indian opposition and journalists of state-backed iPhone hacking attempts

In a recent development, Apple has issued warnings to around 20 prominent individuals in India, including opposition politicians and journalists, stating that they were targeted in state-sponsored cyberattacks. This revelation has reignited allegations of the government’s use of electronic surveillance to monitor its political rivals and critics. (via. The Washington Post)

Several Members of Parliament from opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress Party, the Indian National Congress, and the Aam Aadmi Party shared screenshots of emails they received from Apple, notifying them of hacking attempts on their iPhones. Similarly, journalists critical of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, including reporters from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and The Wire, as well as the head of a government-linked think tank in New Delhi, also received similar notices from Apple.

While the emails did not explicitly name the Indian government as the perpetrator or confirm whether the hacking attempts were successful, an Apple spokesperson clarified that the company does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker.

In response, Ashwini Vaishnaw, the BJP minister of railways, communications, electronics, and information technology, stated that the Indian government takes the privacy and security of all citizens seriously and pledged to investigate these notifications. However, Vaishnaw also pointed out that the information provided by Apple seemed vague and nonspecific, stating that some notifications could be based on incomplete or imperfect information, and some attacks might even go undetected.

Opposition politicians were quick to accuse Narendra Modi’s government of surveillance and drew parallels to the 2021 incident, where hundreds of Indian phone numbers were found on a leaked list of potential surveillance targets using Pegasus, a powerful spyware capable of infiltrating Apple and Android smartphones. The list included phone numbers belonging to opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and several of his aides, journalists, senior bureaucrats, and Supreme Court judges.

It is important to note that the Indian government neither confirmed nor denied the use of Pegasus at that time, while its developer, NSO Group, stated that the spyware is exclusively sold to government agencies. Not to mention that the US has blacklisted NSO Group from trading with any American corporation since 2021 over spyware.

Interestingly, some individuals who were found to have their phones infected with Pegasus in 2021, such as journalist Siddarth Varadarajan, founder of online news organization The Wire, received Apple notifications this week stating that they were being targeted again by a state-linked actor. Other recipients of the alerts included Mahua Moitra, a Member of Parliament from the Trinamool Congress Party, Priyanka Chaturvedi, a leader of a faction of the Shiv Sena party opposing the BJP.

Apple clarified that these threat notifications were not limited to India alone, reaching individuals in nearly 150 countries.

Although Apple’s revelations do not explicitly implicate the Indian government, they come at a delicate time. The Cupertino-based company has been engaged in discussions with the Indian government to expand its presence in India as it seeks to diversify its supply chain beyond China.

Furthermore, Apple aims to make significant progress with Indian consumers and opened its first retail store in the country in April, which was attended by CEO Tim Cook. Bloomberg previously reported that Apple’s annual sales in India grew by almost 50 percent to $6 billion during the fiscal year ending in March 2023.

While the situation continues to unfold, these recent events highlight the importance of cybersecurity and the need for individuals, organizations, and governments to remain vigilant in protecting their digital privacy and security.

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