Apple's reply on device vulnerability not totally clear: government on iPhone alert to MPs

The government is still waiting for a clear reply from Apple on the iPhone alert sent to opposition political leaders around five months back on alleged hacking of their devices by state-backed hackers.

The government is still waiting for a clear reply from iPhone maker Apple on the iPhone alert sent to opposition political leaders around five months back on alleged hacking of their devices by state-backed hackers.

In an interview to PTI, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the government has asked Apple two questions: whether their devices are safe, and if so the reason for the alert was sent to opposition members.

"In my humble opinion, this is not something that any proprietary platform will completely concede whether they have vulnerabilities in their platform. There's an instinct in any platform to deny that vulnerability exists," he said.

"We are asking a clear question, is your phone vulnerable? The answer to that is not totally unambiguous," Chandrasekhar said.

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In October, several opposition leaders claimed they have received an alert from Apple warning them of state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise" their iPhones and alleged hacking by the government.

Among those who received the threat notification on their iPhones were Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera, K C Venugopal, Supriya Shrinate, T S Singhdeo, and Bhupinder S Hooda.