Apple sends iPhone threat alerts to India opposition politicians

Mumbai, India

Since 2021, Apple has been alerting iPhone users to suspected "state-sponsored spyware attacks." According to India's Economic Times, the company Economic Times">has now sent out such alerts to an unknown number of users in India, including politicians.

Subsequently, Apple has said that some such threat notifications may be false alarms.

"Detecting such attacks relies on threat intelligence signals that are often imperfect and incomplete," the company told the publication. "It's possible that some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms, or that some attacks are not detected."

Nonetheless, according to Reuters, Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of trying to hack into the iPhones of senior opposition politicians.

"Hack us all you want," Gandhi told press, referring to Modi's government. "But we will not stop questioning you."

Apple followed up its comment about potential false alarms with a statement that said the company could not attribute the cause of the alerts to "any specific state-sponsored attacker."

Speaking on behalf of Ghandhi's party, spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said that Apple's response was a "long-winded non-denial."

Separately, Apple CEO Tim Cook has now met with Prime Minister Modi several times to discuss Apple's future in the country.