Congress’ KC Venugopal gets Apple threat notification, says got it in Oct’23 too
KC Venugopal is at least the third person to receive spyware threat notification from Apple this quarter after Iltija Mufti and Pushparaj Deshpande
Congress leader KC Venugopal on Saturday said that he had received a threat notification from Apple informing him that he was being targeted using a mercenary spyware that was attempting to compromise the iPhone associated with his Apple ID. Significantly, the threat notification sent to him notes that he was also notified on October 30, 2023, and this was another attack against his device.
“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,” said a screenshot of the notification tweeted by Venugopal. HT has reached out to Apple for more details about this difference in the format of the threat notification.
Venugopal, Congress general secretary (organisation) and member of Parliament (MP) from Kerala’s Alappuzha, is at least the third person to receive this quarterly notification from Apple this quarter after People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti and founder of Samrudh Bharat Foundation Pushparaj Deshpande, who wrote a book on Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Confirming the receipt of the email to HT, Venugopal said that he had received the notification on July 9 and had also received it in October 2023. To be sure, Venugopal had not gone public about the receipt of the threat notification in October.
“It is quite clear what happened here. We know that the Pegasus operation can only be done through a government organisation. Private individuals cannot get it. ... Entire privacy has been taken away by this government,” he said.
As to his next steps, he said that the party will take a call on how to proceed, especially as the Parliament session will begin on July 22.
In his tweet, he said, “Thank you PM Modi ji for sending your favaourite 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 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. We will oppose this blatantly unconstitutional act and breach on our privacy tooth and nail.”
In October 2023, the notifications were sent to multiple members of Opposition including Congress’ Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera and Supriya Shrinate, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s Mahua Moitra, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Raghav Chadha, and Sitaram Yechury from the Communist Party of India (Marxist). All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)’s Asaduddin Owaisi was also notified last year.
This system was launched after Apple had sued the NSO Group, the Israeli maker of Pegasus, in the same month in the wake of the second bout of Pegasus-related exposures in July 2021. These threat notifications are sent by Apple to potentially affected users quarterly. Since the system was launched in November 2021, Apple has sent threat notifications to users in 152 countries. On July 9, the notifications were sent to users in 98 countries, including India.