Several Opposition leaders, including under-fire TMC MP Mahua Moitra, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Congress media chairman Pawan Khera on Tuesday claimed that their Apple devices have allegedly been hacked by the government.

They also shared the screenshots of Apple’s warning message that says “state-sponsored” attackers may be targetting your iPhone.

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“Received from an Apple ID, threat-notifications@apple.com, which I have verified. Authenticity confirmed. Glad to keep underemployed officials busy at the expenses of taxpayers like me! Nothing more important to do?” Congress leader Shashi Tharoor wrote on Twitter, now renamed X.

His Congress colleague Pawan Khera shared a screenshot of the warning and asked, “Dear Modi Sarkar, why are you doing this?”

Dear Modi Sarkar, why are you doing this? pic.twitter.com/3hWmAx00ql

— Pawan Khera (@Pawankhera) October 31, 2023

TMC MP Mahua Moitra, who is facing a Parliamentary Ethics Committee probe into alleged “cash for query” scam, also alleged that her iPhone is being hacked.

Received text & email from Apple warning me Govt trying to hack into my phone & email. er.com/HMOIndia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@HMOIndia – get a life. Adani & PMO bullies – your fear makes me pity you. @priyankac19 – you, I , & 3 other INDIAns have got it so far . pic.twitter.com/2dPgv14xC0

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) October 31, 2023

Moitra further said that she is waiting official to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to summon the home ministry officials on the issue.

“Writing officially to @loksabhaspeaker @ombirlakota requesting he follow RajDharma to protect Opposition MPs & summon @HMOIndia officials ASAP on our phones/email being hacked. Priveleges Committee needs to take up. @AshwiniVaishnaw this is real breach you need to worry about,” she wrote on X.

Another Opposition leader Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena (UBT) acknowledged recieving the Apple warning and asked if the Amit Shah-led Home Ministry will investigate this.

According to Apple, it threat notifications are designed to alert and assist it’s users who may have been targeted by state-sponsored attackers. Apple says these individuals are targetted for who they are and what they do. The state-sponsored attackers are different from random cybercriminals as they apply exceptional resources to target select individuals and are very hard to detect and prevent.