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Indian journalists, opposition leaders ‘targeted by state-sponsored attackers’

News Desk

•
Nov 01

Several prominent leaders from India’s opposition parties, including members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), have recently been alerted about potential security breaches concerning their Apple devices.

Indian National Congress’s Shashi Tharoor and Pawan Khera, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, Trinamool Congress’s Mahua Moitra, and Aam Aadmi Party’s Raghav Chadha are among those who received warning emails from Apple, highlighting the threat of state-sponsored attacks targeting their iPhones.

The news broke when The Wire, an online publication, revealed that even Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of The Wire, and Samir Saran from the Observer Research Foundation, were also on the list of individuals who received the warning emails.

The situation prompted immediate action from various quarters, including the media, with several journalists and opposition leaders reportedly receiving similar notifications from Apple about potential state-sponsored attacks.

Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera, Priyanka Chaturvedi, and Siddharth Varadarajan confirmed the receipt of the warning emails during the late hours of Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

Tharoor, who noticed the email on Tuesday morning, emphasized the importance of making these threats public, citing the necessity of transparency in safeguarding security. Expressing his concern, Tharoor highlighted the misuse of public funds and the urgent need to address more significant national security threats.

The situation escalated further when The Wire alleged that the language used in the warning emails was similar to previous alerts from Apple, although this claim could not be independently verified by Newslaundry.

Tharoor took to Twitter, sharing that the emails were sent from “threat-notifications@apple.com”.

Mahua Moitra, a member of the Trinamool Congress, later added that individuals within Rahul Gandhi’s office had also been targeted.

In response to the unfolding events, Apar Gupta, the founder of the Internet Freedom Foundation, provided a detailed analysis emphasizing the importance of not dismissing these alerts as false alarms.

Seeking clarification from Apple, Newslaundry contacted the company’s official spokesperson, seeking information about the origin of the alleged attacks and the number of affected users. Apple responded, stating that while they do not specifically attribute the notifications to any state-sponsored attackers, the detection process is complex and evolving.

Notably, the alerts were not limited to India alone, as it was discovered that individuals from nearly 150 countries had also received similar threat notifications from Apple.

These developments have emerged approximately two years after reports of India’s alleged use of Israeli spyware for targeted surveillance, indicating a continued focus on digital security concerns within the country.

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