NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India has launched an investigation into a data breach at Tata Electronics that exposed confidential documents related to Apple’s unreleased iPhone 18 Pro, marking the government's first public response to the incident.
India’s Information Technology Secretary S. Krishnan confirmed that authorities are investigating the breach and said the incident has been reported to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the country's primary cybersecurity agency.
The breach came to light after a ransomware group posted confidential files on the dark web that were allegedly stolen from Tata Electronics, one of Apple's key manufacturing partners in India.
According to a previous Reuters report, the leaked data includes sensitive supplier and component lists, as well as images of the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro models.
The cyberattack threatens Apple's highly confidential global supply chain, which relies on a network of manufacturing partners to produce its flagship devices.
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max in September. The leaked files reportedly identify companies producing specific components for the new smartphones—information Apple does not publicly disclose in its supplier database.
Following the breach, Tata Electronics has appointed an international consulting firm to conduct a forensic investigation into the cyberattack.
Reuters previously reported that documents related to Tesla, Qualcomm and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) were also leaked and published on the dark web as part of the same incident.
Neither Apple nor Tata Electronics has publicly commented on the investigation.