{"id":37974,"date":"2023-11-01T01:50:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T20:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=37974"},"modified":"2025-04-23T03:25:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T21:55:57","slug":"state-sponsored-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/state-sponsored-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple\u2019s state-sponsored attackers alert"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>News Summary: Apple\u2019s state-sponsored attackers alert<\/li>\n<li>Who are these state-sponsored attackers that Apple refers to?<\/li>\n<li>What are apple threat notifications?<\/li>\n<li>What does Apple advise users should do when an attack is detected?<\/li>\n<li>What exactly is the Lockdown Mode?<\/li>\n<li>Response of the government<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>At least seven Opposition Members of Parliament said that they received a warning from Apple that state-sponsored attackers may be targeting their iPhones.<\/li>\n<li>The warning says the attackers are likely targeting these individuals because of who they are or what they do.<\/li>\n<li>It advises them on how to protect themselves, including activating the \u2018Lockdown Mode\u2019 feature on their iPhones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>News Summary:\u00a0Apple\u2019s state-sponsored attackers alert<\/h2>\n<h2>Who are these state-sponsored attackers that Apple refers to?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Following the allegations, Apple said in a statement that it does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker.<\/li>\n<li>As per Apple:\n<ul>\n<li>State-sponsored attackers are very well-funded and sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Detecting such attacks relies on threat intelligence signals that are often imperfect and incomplete.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It is possible that some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms, or that some attacks are not detected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Attackers backed by governments go after specific individuals and their devices, based on their identity or activities.\n<ul>\n<li>Such attacks are very different from the ones carried out by regular cybercriminals, who usually target a large number of users for financial gain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>According to Apple,\u00a0<u>state-sponsored attacks are often short-lived, and are designed to evade detection and exploit vulnerabilities that may not be known to the public<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What are apple threat notifications?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Apple\u2019s threat notifications are a way of alerting and helping users who may have been targeted by state-sponsored attackers.<\/li>\n<li>As a response to these attacks, the company has developed a system that can spot activity that matches certain patterns.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>When an attack is detected, a Threat Notification is sent by email and iMessage to the email addresses and phone numbers that are linked to the affected user\u2019s Apple ID.\n<ul>\n<li>The notification that some politicians and others received was likely triggered by this system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What does Apple advise users should do when an attack is detected?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Some of the general security tips that Apple recommends are updating to the latest software versions, setting a passcode, enabling two-factor authentication, and using a strong password for the Apple ID.<\/li>\n<li>It also recommends that users should download apps only from the App Store, use a different password for each online account, and avoid clicking on links or attachments from unknown sources.<\/li>\n<li>Apple also suggests that users\u00a0<u>activate the Lockdown Mode<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What exactly is the Lockdown Mode?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Lockdown Mode is a feature introduced in its latest software updates to specifically protect against rare and sophisticated cyber-attacks such as these.<\/li>\n<li>When one activates Lockdown Mode, his\/her device will enter into a state of high security, where many usual functions will be restricted or disabled.\n<ul>\n<li>E.g., He\/she will not be able to send or receive attachments, links, or link previews in messages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Anyone who receives a threat notification from Apple should take it seriously and follow the steps that Apple recommends to secure their device and account.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Response of the government<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Government has launched an investigation into the alerts.<\/li>\n<li>Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw downplayed the alerts by citing\u00a0<u>Apple\u2019s claim that these alerts have been sent to people in 150 countries<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What is an Apple ID?<\/h3>\n<p>An Apple ID is an account that you use to access Apple devices and services. It includes your email address or phone number, a password, and your data and settings.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2) What is iMessage?<\/h3>\n<p>iMessage is an instant messaging service that Apple developed in 2011. It&#8217;s available on Apple devices like the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac laptop.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-sci-tech\/apple-state-sponsored-attackers-alert-opposition-explained-9007362\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>What is Apple\u2019s \u2018state-sponsored attackers\u2019 alert, received by multiple Opposition leaders?<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/state-sponsored-attackers-may-be-targeting-your-iphones-apple-warns-opposition-mps\/article67479395.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The Hindu<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State-sponsored attackers are very well-funded and sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}