Apple hacking alert triggered by 'algorithm malfunction', says govt : reports

The government has identified an 'algorithm malfunction' as the reason behind the hacking alert received by politicians using iPhones, according to an India Today report quoting sources.

Several opposition leaders including TMC's Mahua Moitra, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Priyanka Chaturvedi and Congress' Shashi Tharoor posted on X on Tuesday that they had received an alert from Apple warning them about a hacking attempt.

"Apple believes you are being targeted by state-sponsored attackers who are trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID," the alert read.

The Opposition leaders accused the govt of trying to snoop on them.

Reacting to the claims, BJP said it is for Apple to clarify the alerts it has sent to several people, including opposition leaders, about "state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise" their iPhones and rejected the allegations against the government as "baseless and false".

Party leader and former Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that instead of levelling allegations against the government, these leaders should take up the matter with Apple and file FIRs.

He, however, cited his experience to claim that no telephone company does something like this and goes to CERT-In, an emergency response team, first to look into the matter.

(with PTI inputs)