Apple introduces lockdown mode to protect iPhones from state-sponsored hacking

Apple It announced a new feature called Lockdown Mode for iPhones on Wednesday to protect high-profile users like politicians and activists from state-sponsored hackers.

Lockdown mode turns off many features on the iPhone to make it less vulnerable to spyware and significantly reduce the number of features that can be accessed and potentially hacked by attackers.

In particular, it disables many preview features in iMessage, limits JavaScript on the Safari browser, prevents new configuration profiles from being installed, blocks wired connections – therefore preventing the device’s data from being copied. is – and turns off requests for incoming Apple services, including facetime,

The tech giant will pay up to $2 million to researchers who find security flaws in lockdown mode.

The announcement comes months after revelations that state-sponsored hackers have the ability to hack recent model iPhones with “zero-click” attacks delivered via text messages. These attacks can be successful even if the victim does not click on a link.

The iPhone maker has faced increasing calls from governments to address the issue. In March, US lawmakers pressed apple About the details of the attack, including whether it could trace them, how many were discovered and when and where they happened.

Most hackers are financially motivated and most malware is designed to give the user valuable information such as passwords or to give the attacker access to financial accounts.

But the state-sponsored attacks that Lockdown Mode is targeting are different: they employ very expensive equipment sold directly to law enforcement agencies or sovereign governments, and use undiscovered bugs to gain a foothold in the iPhone’s operating system. Huh. From there, attackers can do things like control its microphone and camera, and steal a user’s browsing and communication history.

The lockdown mode is intended for a small number of people who think they may be targeted by a state-sponsored hacker and require an extreme level of security. Victims targeted by military-grade spyware include journalists, human rights activists and business executives for the Washington Post, Spyware has also reportedly been used to target public officials, including a french minister And Catalan separatist leader in Spain,

“While most users will never fall victim to a highly targeted cyberattack, we will work tirelessly to protect a small number of users,” said Apple’s head of security engineering and architecture, Evan Kristic, in a statement.

There are several types of spyware for hire, but the most famous variant is Pegasus, which was developed by the NSO Group in Israel. Recently, researchers at the University of Toronto And Amnesty International Versions of this type of spyware targeting iPhones have been discovered and documented.

NSO Group has said before That its technology is used legally by governments to fight pedophiles and terrorists.

NSO Group is disliked by big tech companies, especially Apple, which market their devices as more secure than the competition. Apple sued NSO Group last year, saying it was malicious and it Apple’s business loss, Facebook parent meta NSO is also suing the group over alleged efforts hack whatsapp,

Last November, US Department of Commerce NSO Group blacklistedBarring US companies from working with it is one of the strongest measures taken by the US government to attack foreign companies.

Apple says most of the 1 billion iPhone users will never be targeted. Apple says mercenary spyware like Pegasus can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, so the tools are valuable and used to target only a small number of users. Once new versions of spyware are discovered, Apple fixes the bugs they used to make the original exploits ineffective and allows vendors like NSO Group to reconfigure how their tools work. force to.

Apple said that the lockdown mode will not be turned on by default, but it can be turned on with a single tap from inside the iPhone’s settings. It will also be available for iPad and Mac.

The new feature will be available for testing on the beta version of iOS this week, before it’s widely released in the fall.