In response to a recent report by “The Washington Post,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for Information Technology in Bharat, has strongly refuted the allegations that the Bharat government targeted Apple. The minister dismissed the report as “half facts, fully embellished,” calling it “terrible” and “tiresome.”
The Washington Post, in collaboration with Amnesty, published a story on December 27 claiming that Bharat journalists and opposition party politicians were targeted by government hackers attempting to breach their iPhones. The report suggested that the Bharat government took swift action against Apple following a warning issued by the tech giant in October.
Taking to social media, Chandrasekhar expressed his concerns about the incomplete narrative presented in the report. He highlighted that the story omitted Apple’s response, which was issued on October 31, the day of the threat notifications. Apple stated that it does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker, emphasizing the complexity of detecting such sophisticated attacks.
Quoting Apple’s response, Chandrasekhar underscored that some threat notifications might be false alarms or go undetected. He reiterated that it is Apple’s responsibility to explain any vulnerabilities in their devices and clarify the triggers for these notifications. The minister also revealed that Apple was invited to join an inquiry with the Bharat Computer Emergency Response Team, and meetings have been held, with the investigation still ongoing.
Chandrasekhar criticized the report, labeling it as “creative imagination” and accused it of being clickbait disguised as journalism. He maintained that the consistent and clear stance of the Ministry of Electronics & IT is for Apple to provide explanations regarding the alleged vulnerabilities in their devices and the nature of the threat notifications.
In conclusion, the Union Minister emphasized that the government’s response has been transparent and in line with the need for Apple’s cooperation in addressing the concerns raised. The ongoing inquiry seeks to determine the accuracy of the threat notifications and whether any genuine security risks exist.
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