Congress MP KC Venugopal in a sarcastic post on X alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent his “favourite malicious spyware” to his phone. Venugopal’s post read, “Thank you PM Modiji for sending your favourite malicious spyware to my phone too!” He added, “Apple is kind enough to let me know about this special gift from you!”
The Congress leader accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Centre of “encroaching upon the privacy” of political opponents.
KC Venugopal said, “It is clear that the Modi government is acting in a criminal and unconstitutional manner, targeting political opponents and violating their privacy in this manner. The message of the Lok Sabha elections is that people reject any attack on the Constitution and the BJP’s fascist agenda.”
Thank you, Prime Minister Modi, for sending your favourite malicious spyware to my phone too!
Apple was kind enough to let me know about this special gift for you!
It is clear that the Modi government is acting in a criminal and unconstitutional manner, and is after political opponents… pic.twitter.com/VrwF9TGdek
– KC Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) July 13, 2024
He said the opposition would “strongly oppose this blatantly unconstitutional act and violation of our privacy.”
The Congress leader posted a message on X, purportedly from Apple, warning him about a “spyware attack”. “Apple previously sent you a notification on October 30, 2023. This is not a repeat notification – this is to inform you that we have detected another attack against your device,” the message read.
The message further stated that the Congress leader’s phone has been targeted by a “mercenary spyware attack that tries to remotely hack the iPhone linked to your Apple ID…”
The message read, “This attack is likely targeting you specifically because of who you are or what you do. Although it is never possible to achieve absolute certainty in detecting such attacks, Apple is confident in this warning – please take it seriously.”
It said these attacks cost millions of dollars and are carried out individually against a small number of people, but their targeting is persistent and global.
“Since 2021, we have sent such threat notifications to Apple several times a year as we detect mercenary spyware attacks,” it said.
It further added, “Today’s notification is being sent to targeted users in 98 countries, and to date we have notified users in a total of over 150 countries.”
