iPhone hacking row: Apple's technical team to probe threat notifications
Apple is dispatching a team of technical and cybersecurity experts to India to discuss the ongoing investigation into threat notifications sent to various opposition politicians and journalists, reported Moneycontrol. On October 31, several opposition MPs, such as TMC's Mahua Moitra, Shiv Sena (UBT's) Priyanka Chaturvedi, Congress's Shashi Tharoor, and AAP's Raghav Chadha, reported receiving Apple notifications warning them of state-sponsored attackers targeting their devices.
What was the issue?
Last month, Apple alerted the opposition leaders via an SMS and an email. The SMS read, "State-sponsored attackers may be targeting your iPhone. Apple believes you are being targeted by state-sponsored attackers who are trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID..." This triggered a political firestorm with the opposition accusing the government of spying on them. However, the government has denied any spying allegations and ordered an investigation while seeking clarification from Apple.
Visa issue resolved, experts' visit expected soon
As per the Moneycontrol report, Apple representatives in India have already communicated with government officials, but the company's technical experts are based overseas. Visa issues initially delayed the experts' visit, but these have now been resolved, and the visit is expected to take place soon. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is leading the investigation into the threat notifications.
Vulnerability in Apple's systems allegedly exposed citizens to viruses
Another government official claimed that a vulnerability in Apple's systems potentially exposed people worldwide to viruses. The official told Moneycontrol, "There is no big thing that has come out." "Threat actor is a standard language which is used (by platforms) to not take any responsibility for the existing vulnerabilities in one's system. It becomes easy to blame states and governments," the official added.
