Nara Lokesh's iPhone is being hacked, Apple sent alert: TDP

Amaravati: iPhone maker Apple has sent a security alert to the TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh that his phone is being hacked.

According to the TDP officials, the Apple company has sent an e-mail to Lokesh that efforts are being made to hack and tap his phone with some unidentified software and alerted him to take some precautionary measures.

The senior TDP leader and Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar, who is also a senior advocate, lodged a complaint with the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).

In the letter, he mentioned that Lokesh’s iPhone had been tapped using Pegasus software by certain unknown agencies.

Apple warns its users

Earlier, Apple warned its users about ongoing Pegasus-like sophisticated spyware attacks that target a very small number of individuals often journalists, activists, politicians and diplomats.

“Though deployed against a small number of individuals and often involve exceptional costs, mercenary spyware attacks are ‘ongoing and global’,” according to an Apple threat notification.

Apple, in the threat notification issued on April 10, indicated that such attacks have historically been associated with state actors as per past research and reports.

“Apple threat notifications are designed to inform and assist users who may have been individually targeted by mercenary spyware attacks, likely because of who they are or what they do. Such attacks are vastly more complex than regular cybercriminal activity and consumer malware, as mercenary spyware attackers apply exceptional resources to target a very small number of specific individuals and their devices,” the notification said.

The notification has come at a time when around 60 countries, including India, are going for elections this year.

TDP demands replacing DGP

Mentioning that a similar alert was received by Lokesh a few days ago also, the TDP leader said that the DGP Rajendranath Reddy and Intelligence chief PSR Anjaneyulu have become ‘virtual lackeys of the ruling YSRCP resorting to highly unethical and unlawful activities’ to jeopardise the prospects of the NDA alliance partners in the ongoing elections to the Assembly and the Lok Sabha.