The government is still awaiting a definitive response from Apple, the iPhone manufacturer, regarding an iPhone alert sent to opposition political leaders about five months ago concerning the alleged hacking of their devices by hackers supported by the state.
In a PTI interview, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics and IT, stated that the government has posed two questions to Apple: Are their devices secure, and if so, why was the alert sent to opposition members?
“In my view, no proprietary platform will fully admit to having vulnerabilities in their platform. There’s a tendency in any platform to deny the existence of vulnerabilities,” he said.
Apple answer not entirely clear
“We’re asking a straightforward question: Is your phone susceptible? The answer to that is not entirely clear,” Chandrasekhar said.
In October, several opposition leaders claimed to have received an alert from Apple warning them of “state-sponsored attackers attempting to remotely compromise” their iPhones and alleged government hacking.
Those who received the threat notification on their iPhones included Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera, K C Venugopal, Supriya Shrinate, T S Singhdeo, and Bhupinder S Hooda.
Trinamool Congress’ Mahua Moitra, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, and Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, Aam Aadmi Party’s Raghav Chadha, AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi, and some of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s aides also received the notification.
“When the allegations were made, we clearly stated on that day that this is for Apple to answer because it involves their device.
Government doesn’t have ‘expertise’ to understand this
“We certainly don’t have the R&D (research and development) capability in the government to understand what’s in the iOS and what’s not, and Apple certainly isn’t going to disclose its proprietary technology to us. So we contacted them,” Chandrasekhar said.
He stated that CERT-In has included them in the investigation.
“They’ve provided a number of clarifications, including one on the same day stating that this has nothing to do with a state actor. But we pushed them further: if it has nothing to do with a state actor, then what is this notification? They’ve given us some clarification. They continue to… but CERT is continuing their investigation,” the minister said.
In a PTI interview, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics and IT, stated that the government has posed two questions to Apple: Are their devices secure, and if so, why was the alert sent to opposition members?
“In my view, no proprietary platform will fully admit to having vulnerabilities in their platform. There’s a tendency in any platform to deny the existence of vulnerabilities,” he said.
Apple answer not entirely clear
“We’re asking a straightforward question: Is your phone susceptible? The answer to that is not entirely clear,” Chandrasekhar said.
In October, several opposition leaders claimed to have received an alert from Apple warning them of “state-sponsored attackers attempting to remotely compromise” their iPhones and alleged government hacking.
Those who received the threat notification on their iPhones included Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera, K C Venugopal, Supriya Shrinate, T S Singhdeo, and Bhupinder S Hooda.
Trinamool Congress’ Mahua Moitra, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, and Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, Aam Aadmi Party’s Raghav Chadha, AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi, and some of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s aides also received the notification.
“When the allegations were made, we clearly stated on that day that this is for Apple to answer because it involves their device.
Government doesn’t have ‘expertise’ to understand this
“We certainly don’t have the R&D (research and development) capability in the government to understand what’s in the iOS and what’s not, and Apple certainly isn’t going to disclose its proprietary technology to us. So we contacted them,” Chandrasekhar said.
He stated that CERT-In has included them in the investigation.
“They’ve provided a number of clarifications, including one on the same day stating that this has nothing to do with a state actor. But we pushed them further: if it has nothing to do with a state actor, then what is this notification? They’ve given us some clarification. They continue to… but CERT is continuing their investigation,” the minister said.
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