Apple breach: Ex-UP CM Akhilesh, Raghav, ORF boss & Mahua claim state-sponsored attack

| Updated: 31 October, 2023 1:25 pm IST

NEW DELHI: Opposition members of the Parliament from different parties, former Uttar Pradesh CM and a globe-trotting top honcho of a think tank on Tuesday shared screenshots of alerts from iPhone maker Apple to buttress claims of snooping by the Indian government.

These claims were made by members of the INDIA alliance, Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena (UBT), Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress, alongside two Congress leaders, Pawan Khera and Shashi Tharoor.

Cyber crime investigator Ritesh Bhatia (@riteshb2) on Apple’s Security Alert:

After MPs & Spokesperson alerted on potential snooping, Bhatia highlights Apple’s robust security.

“After addressing Pegasus-like incidents, Apple fixed a major security gap. Now, Apple’s iOS…

— The New Indian (@TheNewIndian_in) October 31, 2023

Observer Research Foundation’s President, Samir Saran also raised similar concerns by sharing the screenshots.

While Mahua has come under the scanner of the Parliament’s Ethics committee following a sworn affidavit by a private businessman Darshan Hiranandani who’s accused her of compromising Parliament login credentials for a quid pro quo, she has claimed the inquiry a case of vendetta politics for her attack on the Adani Group.

BIG BREAKING : Two Opposition members of the Parliament from different parties and a Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera share screenshots of alerts from Apple, raising suspicions of government surveillance.#Apple pic.twitter.com/k3go4vMWSy

— The New Indian (@TheNewIndian_in) October 31, 2023

Saran’s case is the most curious. ORF was founded by the Dhirubhai Ambani family but it claims to operate independently. ORF has maintained that its funds are sourced to Reliance Group, government, foreign foundations, and others. It’s not clear if any professional rivalry between Adani or Ambani Group is behind any attack on Saran’s iphone.

It is also so far not clear if a government-based agency has commissioned any probe, under which the phones were surveilled upon.

The alert from an Apple mail ID threat-notifications@apple.com illustrated that their Apple devices, including their iPhones may have been compromised

These claims beg a few questions:

1. If the government is behind this, is it not completely unlawful and hideous? What was the need for it?

2. If its genuinely part of any ongoing probe to find out if Mahua Moitra or any of these leaders share any contacts to pass on or exchange any sensitive information amid accusations made by a private businessman Darshan Hiranandani on a sworn affidavit, which is though against only Trinamool Congress MP, on her attack on Adani business group.

3. If the above two is not true, some believe that investment research firm Hindenburg collude with anyone in the US to generate such alerts to settle personal scores with Adani group?

4. Many in the cyber security business also asked how can Apple, as a phone maker, know if it’s state sponsored or private attack? Have such alerts with the same context ever appeared on anyone else’s phone?

5. Some of these MPs have coincidentally raised concerns over the Adani Group.

Following are some of the reactions by those who claimed attack on their Apple phones.