Attacking the government in a post on X, Congress MP KC Venugopal alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent his “favourite malicious spyware” on his phone. “Thank you PM Modi ji for sending your favourite malicious spyware on my phone also!,” Venugopal’s post read. He said, “Apple has been kind enough to intimate me about this special present of yours!”
The Congress leader went on to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Centre for “invading privacy” of political opponents.
“Let’s be clear, the Modi government is acting in a criminal and unconstitutional manner, going after political opponents and invading their privacy in this manner. The message of the Lok Sabha elections was that the people reject any attack on the Constitution and the BJP’s fascist agenda,” KC Venugopal said.
Thank you PM Modi ji for sending your favourite malicious spyware on my phone also!
Apple has been kind enough to intimate me about this special present of yours!
Let’s be clear, the Modi government is acting in a criminal and unconstitutional manner, going after political… pic.twitter.com/VrwF9TGdek
— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) July 13, 2024
He added that Opposition “will oppose this blatantly unconstitutional act and breach on our privacy tooth and nail”.
The Congress leader took to X to post of a message, purportedly from Apple, warning him about the “spyware attack”. The message read, “Apple previously sent you a notification on October 30, 2023. This is not a repeat notice – it is to inform you that we detected another attack against your device.”
The message further informed that the Congress leader’s phone was targeted by a “mercenary spyware attack that is trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple id…“
“This attack is likely targeting you specifically because of who you are or what you do. Although it’s never possible to achieve absolute certainty when detecting such attacks, Apple has high confidence in this warning ‘“ please take it seriously,” the message read.
It added that these attacks cost millions of dollars and are individually deployed against a very small number of people, but the targeting is ongoing and global.
“Since 2021, we have sent Apple threat notifications like this one multiple times a year as we detect mercenary spyware attacks,” it said.
“Today’s notification is being sent to targeted users in 98 countries, and to date we have notified users in over 150 countries in total,” it further said.