HYDERABAD: BSP State president and former IPS officer RS Praveen Kumar has alleged that attempts are being made by the State and Central governments to hack his mobile phone using Israeli spyware, indirectly referring to Pegasus, a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group.
In a statement issued here on Monday, the retired Additional Director General of Police said that he had received an email from Apple Inc., his mobile phone manufacturing company, to this effect.
According to him, the message from Apple read as follows: “ALERT: State-sponsored attackers may be targeting your phone. Apple believes you are being targeted by State-sponsored attackers who are trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID. These attackers are likely targeting you individually because of who you are and what you do.”
Further, Apple suggested that if the mobile phone was compromised, the attackers may be able to remotely access sensitive data, communications, or even the camera or microphone. Accusing the governments of targeting him for questioning them on behalf of the people, Praveen Kumar said that the BRS-led State government and BJP government at the Centre are unable to digest the fact that BSP has been getting good responses from the people every day.
It may be mentioned here that when Pegasus spyware was allegedly used against several influential persons at the national level, Apple and other tech companies alerted their customers on the same lines.
Recently, BJP State president Bandi Sanjay cautioned his party cadre against using iPhones and falling prey to tapping. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan also expressed an apprehension that her phones were being hacked.
‘Received alert from Apple’
Praveen Kumar said that he has received an email from Apple, alerting that he is being targeted by State-sponsored attackers.