Apple Cyber Security Team To Meet Govt Officials This Month Over iPhone Warnings To MPs

Apple’s cybersecurity executives from the United States are scheduled to meet with officials from India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) this month to address a show cause notice issued by the government. The notice stems from claims made by several opposition MPs who reported receiving warning notifications on their iPhones about potential state-sponsored attacks.

The controversy erupted last month when opposition leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Shashi Tharoor, and others, raised concerns that their iPhones had been targeted by remote compromise attempts. In response, CERT-In, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), issued a show cause notice to Apple, seeking clarification on the situation.

Minister of State for Meity, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, emphasized that Apple’s global cybersecurity team is required to provide a formal response to the notice during their visit to India. He stressed the ongoing nature of the issue and the need for Apple’s cybersecurity expertise to address it effectively. Chandrasekhar added that local CERT-In representatives have already met with Apple, but the matter demands the attention of the global team, which is expected to travel from the US.

While the exact deadline for Apple’s response remains unspecified, Chandrasekhar expects the meeting to take place within this month. A Meity official noted that the visit is contingent on the timely issuance of visas to the Apple cybersecurity team.

The list of MPs who received the iPhone security alerts includes prominent figures from various political parties, such as Mahua Moitra, Sitaram Yechury, Akhilesh Yadav, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Raghav Chadha, Asaduddin Owaisi, and associates of Rahul Gandhi.