New Delhi, December 28: The Indian government reportedly applied pressure on Apple to tone down warnings of potential iPhone hacks by state-sponsored entities, as detailed in a Washington Post report. The alert, signaling potential hacking attempts on iPhones linked to Opposition leaders and journalists, prompted swift action from the Narendra Modi administration, urging Apple to soften the impact of its message.
According to the Post’s sources, government officials, whose identities remained undisclosed, pushed Apple to mitigate the political repercussions of these warnings. They went as far as summoning an Apple security expert to a meeting in New Delhi, urging the company to provide alternate explanations for the alerts issued to users.
Despite the Indian government’s efforts to downplay the significance of Apple’s warnings, the visiting Apple representative reportedly upheld the company’s stance. However, the vigor with which the government attempted to discredit and pressure Apple allegedly unsettled executives at the company’s headquarters, as per the report.
The situation unfolded on October 31 when several leaders from the Opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and certain journalists reported receiving emails from Apple cautioning them about potential state-sponsored attempts to compromise their iPhones remotely. Screenshots of the notification circulated on social media, quoting Apple’s alert: “Apple believes you are being targeted by state-sponsored attackers who are trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID.”
Apple clarified that it did not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker, emphasizing the sophistication and evolving nature of such attacks. The company stated that detection of such attacks relies on imperfect and incomplete threat intelligence signals.
While expressing concern over the threat notifications, Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw refuted claims by the Opposition that the government sought to compromise their phones. Vaishnaw assured a thorough investigation into the matter, addressing it during a press conference. He later took to social media to note that much of the information provided by Apple seemed vague and lacking specificity regarding the issue.
