Parliament members from Telangana, Asaduddin Owaisi and A. Revanth Reddy have received alerts from the iPhone manufacturer Apple warning them with that ‘State-sponsored attackers may be targeting your iPhone.’
The message further added ‘Apple believes you are being targeted by state-sponsored attackers who are trying to remotely compromise the iPhone’.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Mr Owaisi posted, “Received an Apple Threat Notification last night that attackers may be targeting my phone.”
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr Owaisi said, “I logged in to my email in the morning and I saw the message [from Apple].” The message stated that Apple believed that Mr Owaisi was being targeted by state-sponsored attackers who were trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with his email address.
“These attackers are likely targeting you individually because of who you are or what you do. If your device is compromised by a state-sponsored attacker, they may be able to remotely access your sensitive data, communications, or even camera and microphone,” the message reads.
The Hyderabad parliamentarian told The Hindu that the snooping attempts reflected the existence of archaic laws unable to cope with the rapidly evolving technologies, a lack of accountability against misuse, and pointed to the need of implementing the right to privacy.
“National security should be used for external and internal threats from proscribed groups. How can aspersions be cast on members of parliament?” he said, adding that the Puttaswamy judgment affirmed the right to privacy not only for parliamentarians, but also for the public in general. “Everyone uses a phone. This means, protection should be there for everyone,” he said.
Mr Owaisi said that the government must come clean on why Apple sent messages to many opposition parliamentarians about their phones being compromised. He suggested that government should voluntarily share information on surveillance. This, he said, must not require MPs seeking information in the parliament sessions.
TPCC chief vows to continue the fight
Posting the same message on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), Telangana Congress president A. Revanth Reddy said nothing will deter them in their fight for Telangana. He posted ‘Fighting for people, for justice and to ensure their rights is our sole priority in @INCIndia. We have been fighting for the people of Telangana without compromise. The illegal hacking of our phones using spyware is a breach of privacy, human dignity and political rights. But nothing will deter us. We will fight for Telangana and it’s people till our last breath,” he posted with hastags #BRSBJPBhaiBhai #ByeByeKCR #KCRNeverAgain.
The messages, however, do not give any details on the nature of the attack. Similar messages were received by several MPs in the country, including Shashi Tharoor of the Congress, Mahua Moitra of Trinamool Congress, and Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena.
Earlier this month Hyderabad based former civil servant Akunuri Murali, who is also the Convener of Social Democratic Forum, told The Hindu that his phone was compromised. He also maintained that the Canada-based The Citizen Lab had contacted him and after analysing the contents of his phone, concluded that his phone was compromised in August 2022.
