Government to probe Apple's state-sponsored attack notifications: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Ashwini Vaishnaw requested the members who have received the advisory to cooperate with the investigation.

Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated on October 31 that the government has ordered an investigation into the alert notifications sent to many people by Apple. The minister requested members who have received the advisory to cooperate with the investigation to ensure a thorough probe.

"This investigation is purely technical. We have also asked Apple to join the investigation with real and accurate information regarding the alleged state-sponsored attacks," said Ashwini Vaishnaw.

He mentioned that the "technically qualified" agency Certin, which has global collaborations with major experts worldwide, will be investigating this matter and seeking assistance from law enforcement agencies.

Vaishnaw's response came after Opposition MPs, including TMC's Mahua Moitra, Shiv Sena (UBT's) Priyanka Chaturvedi, Congress' Pawan Khera, Shashi Tharoor, AAP's Raghav Chadha, CPIM's Sitaram Yechury, said that they have received a notification from Apple mentioning that their devices were being targeted by state-sponsored attackers.

"There are many compulsive critics in our country; their only job is to criticize the government as and when they wake up, as and when they find an opportunity," the minister added.

He said that the advisory issued by Apple is based on certain estimations they have done. Apple has already clarified that their encryption system is of the highest possible order and has clarified that this kind of advisory has been issued in 150 countries, said Vaishnaw.

"The Government of Bharat takes its role of protecting the privacy and security of all citizens very seriously and will investigate to get to the bottom of these notifications," he further added.

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar asked a series of questions to Apple on X.

He asked if Apple's devices are secure and why these "threat notifications" are sent to people in over 150 countries. Taking a jibe, the minister said that Apple has repeatedly claimed their products are designed for privacy.

"Our govt is committed and duty-bound to protect the privacy of our citizens, and we take this responsibility very seriously. Govt will investigate these threat notifications and also Apple's claims of being secure and privacy-compliant devices," wrote Chandrasekhar.

Rahul Gandhi accuses BJP of snooping

Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi came down heavily on the Modi government for the alleged snooping attack on Opposition leaders. He said that real power lies with Adani and not the Prime Minister and whenever the Opposition raises questions against him, the government targets Opposition leaders using central agencies and snooping.

"A number of people in my office have got this message... In Congress, KC Venugopal ji, Supriya, Pawan Khera have got it too...They (BJP) are trying to distract the attention of the youth," Gandhi said while displaying a copy of the e-mail reportedly sent by Apple to Opposition leaders.

Apple's response

Apple does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker. 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.