"Notice Sent To Apple, Probe Started": IT Secretary On iPhone "Hacking" Charges

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has categorically rejected the opposition's attack on the government, saying "compulsive critics" were indulging in the politics of "distraction".

The government's cybersecurity agency CERT-In has started its investigation into the issue of the Apple threat notification received by several opposition MPs, and a notice has been sent to the company, IT Secretary S Krishnan said on Thursday.

The move assumes significance as the Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar had earlier this week said that the government wants Apple to clarify if its devices are secure and why 'threat notifications' were sent to people in over 150 countries, given the company's repeated claims about its products being designed for privacy.

The government will investigate the threat notifications and also Apple's claims of being secure and privacy-compliant devices, Chandrasekhar had penned in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, after several opposition leaders claimed 'state-sponsored' attack notification were sent to them from Apple and the government ordered a probe.