iPhone hack: Chandrashekhar refutes Washington Post, calling it 'half-facts'

Union Information Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has refuted The Washington Post's report on the Indian government allegedly targeting Apple after the company warned independent Indian journalists and opposition party politicians that government hackers may have tried to break in into their iPhones and this “half facts, fully embellished”.

The Union minister further termed the report as “appalling” and “tiring”.

Rajiv Chandrasekhar said on his social media

In a story published in partnership with Amnesty on December 27, the Post had reported that certain journalists had been targeted by the spyware on their iPhones, with the last identified case occurring in October.

In its post on .”

After this, Chandrasekhar expressed his concerns and emphasized that the rest of the story includes Apple's response, which came on October 31. “Outside the story is Apple's response on October 31, the day of the threat reports,” he wrote.

Chandrashekhar further shared the rest of the story and quoted Apple's response, which stated that Apple does not attribute the threat reports to a specific state-sponsored attacker, adding that some of Apple's threat reports may be false alarms or go undetected.

“Apple does not attribute the threat reports to a specific state-sponsored attacker. State-sponsored attackers are very well-funded and sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time. Detecting such attacks relies on threat intelligence signals that are often imperfect and incomplete. It's possible that some Apple threat alerts may be false alarms, or some attacks may not be detected. We cannot provide information about the reasons we send threat alerts because this may help state-sponsored attackers modify their behavior to evade detection. the future,” the message emphasizes.

He further emphasized that the Ministry of Electronics and IT and its response are aimed at Apple explaining whether their devices are vulnerable and what caused these notifications.

Additionally, Apple was asked to join the investigation along with India's Computer Emergency Response Team, stressing that the investigation is still ongoing.

“@GoI_MeitY's and my response to this incident was consistent and clear from the incident – that it is up to Apple to explain whether their devices are vulnerable and what caused these notifications. Apple was asked to participate in the investigation with @IndianCERT and meetings have been held. The investigation is still ongoing. Those are the facts. The rest of the story is creative imagination and clickbaiting at work disguised as journalism,” he added.

Moreover, MoS Chandrashekhar said the story is a creative imagination and “clickbaiting” at work disguised as journalism.

First print: December 29, 2023 | 10:13 am IST