India probing iPhone hacking complaints by opposition politicians: Minister

NEW DELHI – India’s cyber-security agency is investigating complaints of mobile phone hacking by senior opposition politicians who reported receiving warning messages from Apple, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

Mr Vaishnaw was quoted in the Indian Express newspaper as saying on Thursday that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team has started the probe, adding that “Apple confirmed it has received the notice for investigation”.

A political aide to Mr Vaishnaw and two officials in the federal Home Ministry told Reuters that all the cyber-security concerns raised by the politicians are being scrutinised.

There was no immediate comment from Apple about the investigation.

This week, Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of trying to

hack into opposition politicians’ mobile phones,

after some lawmakers shared screenshots on social media of a notification quoting the iPhone manufacturer as saying “Apple believes you are being targeted by state-sponsored attackers who are trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID”.

A senior minister from Mr Modi’s government also said he received the same notification on his phone.

Apple said it does not attribute the threat notifications to “any specific state-sponsored attacker”, adding that “it’s possible that some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms, or that some attacks are not detected”.

In 2021, India was rocked by reports that the

government used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware

to snoop on scores of journalists, activists and politicians, including Mr Gandhi.

The government has declined to reply to questions about whether India or any of its state agencies purchased Pegasus spyware for surveillance. REUTERS