Apple's 'State-Sponsored Attackers' Alert: Why BJP Is Targeting George Soros-Funded Access Now?

The Opposition has cornered the BJP government over the Apple alert issue after several leaders claimed to have received alerts from Apple about "state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise" their iPhones.

While TMC MP Mahua Moitra has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla regarding the messages received by several MPs, some leaders have demanded a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee for IT to examine the issue.

On the other hand, the BJP slammed the opposition's contention and indicated a link between "George Soros-funded Access Now" and iPhone notifications, saying there was "no surprise" that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi dropped everything and rushed to hold a press conference on it.

On Tuesday, Moitra, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, AAP's Raghav Chadha, Congress' Shashi Tharoor and his party's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera, and CPI(M) general Sitaram Yechury claimed to have received alerts from Apple.

The leaders have also posted purported screenshots of the message on their respective X handles.

Former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram also reacted on the matter, saying that after the Pegasus mystery, the finger of suspicion points to a government agency.

"It is undeniable that hundreds of Opposition leaders got an alert from Apple of a state-sponsored attempt to compromise their phones. Why only Opposition leaders? Who will be interested in compromising the phones of Opposition leaders," the former Union home minister claimed.

"After the Pegasus mystery (not resolved until this date), the finger of suspicion points to a government agency. At the moment it is only a suspicion," the senior Congress leader said.

Tagging Chidambaram's post, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said, "You were the Home Minister when former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's office was bugged. Does this ring a bell, Mr Chidambaram?" Malviya also shared a thread by a netizen posted on X and said it was an "interesting thread that draws a link between George Soros-funded 'Access Now' and Apple notifications, supposedly received only by Opposition leaders".

"It is therefore no surprise that Rahul Gandhi dropped everything and rushed to hold a press conference. See the sinister plot here?" Malviya added..

The thread "details the network George Soros funded 'Access Now' has built in India. Notification received (from Apple) by the usual suspects in Opposition ranks also refers to Access Now. Only if you believe in fairy tales, would you think it is all a coincidence...," the BJP leader claimed.

Apple's Reaction

Apple has said that it does not attribute threat notifications, like those received by certain MPs from Opposition parties, to any particular state-sponsored attackers. The company clarified that it is unable to provide details on the origins of such warnings.

"Apple does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker. State-sponsored attackers are very well-funded and sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time. Detecting such attacks relies on threat intelligence signals that are often imperfect and incomplete", the statement read.

"It's possible that some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms, or that some attacks are not detected. We are unable to provide information about what causes us to issue threat notifications, as that may help state-sponsored attackers adapt their behaviour to evade detection in the future", the Apple statement added.

Apple-Soros Link

Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, has said that Apple has not sent the message rather Access Now, linked to Soros. On X, he said, "Very curious indeed. The security threat messages being received by some prominent Apple users is not quite from Apple but from a Soros-linked NGO called http://accessnow.org. How is this external agency able to send such authentic-looking messages through the system??"

On its website, Access Now indicates that it is financially supported by multiple organizations, including George Soros' Open Society Foundations. On Access Now's "Funding" webpage, it's noted that OSF contributed $700,000 to the NGO in 2023.

Also, the organization received various sums: $140,815 in December 2022, $350,000 in July 2022, $298,112 in June 2022, $400,000 in December 2021, $700,000 in September 2021, $250,000 in July 2021, $145,000 in both March 2021 and November 2020, $200,000 in August 2020, $87,500 in both July 2019 and May 2019. In total, this signifies that the organization has received $3,503,927, or over $3.5 million USD, from George Soros' OSF in under five years.

In addition to it, the Ford Foundation has donated USD 775,000 in 2023, USD 350,000 in 2022, USD 350,000 in 2021, USD 100,000 in 2020, USD 75,000 in 2019 and USD 25,000 in 2018. In short, in the past five years, the Ford Foundation has donated USD 1,775,000 or 1.7 million USD to the organisation.

The initiative is supported by numerous government departments, including The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Global Affairs Canada, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the German Federal Foreign Office, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and others. Notably, SIDA emerged as the primary contributor in 2023, providing a donation exceeding 2.4 million in July 2023. Major tech entities such as Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo, and additional companies are also counted among the contributors.

A report in OpIndia notes that the wife of General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yechury, Seema Chishti, is a board member of Access Now.

Who is George Soros?

With a net worth of USD 8.5 billion, Soros is the founder of Open Society Foundations, which gives grants to groups and individuals that promote democracy, transparency and freedom of speech. According to his website, "he has given away more than USD 32 billion of his personal fortune" to fund the Open Society Foundations' work around the world. He has been accused of using his wealth and influence to shape politics and funding regime change.

In 2020, he pledged USD 1 billion to fund a new university network to tackle the spread of nationalism. Earlier this year, he hit the headlines after attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Adani issue. Soros in his speech at the Munich Security Conference said the turmoil at Adani may open the door to a democratic revival in the country.

"Adani Enterprises tried to raise funds in the stock market, but he failed. Adani is accused of stock manipulation and his stock collapsed like a house of cards. Modi is silent on the subject, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and in parliament," NDTV quoted Soros as saying.

These links have made the ruling party slam the Opposition over the issue and denounce the allegations.