Apple team to meet CERT-In officials on iPhone warning to MPs

Apple's cyber security executives from the US are expected to meet officials of CERT-In this month regarding the show cause notice issued to the company in the wake of several opposition MPs receiving a warning notification on their iPhones.

Last month, several opposition leaders claimed they had received an alert from Apple warning them of "state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise" their iPhones and alleged hacking by the government.

CERT-In, which comes under Meity, had issued a show-cause notice to Apple in this regard.

On Friday, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that Apple has to reply to the notice which needs to be done by their global cyber security team.

"They have to come here and answer those questions. The basic issue is ongoing," the minister told reporters.

He said that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team or CERT-In has met a local representative of Apple but the issue is beyond their capability to respond.

"It is their cyber security people who have to come and meet CERT-In and they will come all the way from the US," the minister said.

When asked about the deadline given to Apple to submit its response, the minister said he is not certain about the dates but expects the team to meet Cert-In officials sometime this month.

A Meity official said that the Apple cyber security team will come this month only if they get a visa on time.

Meanwhile, the Members of Parliament (MPs) who received the warning notification on their iPhones include Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera, K C Venugopal, Supriya Shrinate, T S Singhdeo and Bhupinder S Hooda; Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, Aam Aadmi Party's Raghav Chadha, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and some aides of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi also received the notification.