Apple's Lockdown Mode Feature is the Company's Answer to Growing Spyware Threats

For years, Apple has been improving its privacy and security settings with a string of new features that cybersecurity experts say help the company differentiate itself from its rivals like Samsung.

With the recent rollout of the Lockdown Mode, Apple is following through on its promise to its users that everything that is saved in their devices will stay in their devices.

Apple's Lockdown Mode Feature

Apple's Lockdown Mode feature blocks links previously in the messages app, turning off any hackable web browsing technologies, and stopping any incoming FaceTime calls from unknown numbers, according to USA Today.

Apple devices also won't accept accessory connections unless the device is properly unlocked.

Out of the 2 billion active devices around the world, the tech giant said that only a few users would be able to turn the feature on, but cybersecurity experts say that these types of measures may need to become more common to every single Apple user as governments around the world broaden who they target.

In early July, the FBI and UK's MI5 intelligence organization issued a joint warning of the threat that Chinese spies pose to the economic and national security of both countries.

The FBI and MI5 also revealed that China's hacking program is "bigger than that of the other countries combined."

Other government agencies have made the same warnings about hacking from other adversaries, including Russia, which the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned back in 2017 has targeted think tanks and lobbying groups aside from the government and political parties.

Unlike the widespread ransomware or virus campaigns, which are usually designed to spread as fast as possible, the targeted attacks are designed for quiet intelligence gathering, leading to stolen technology, exposed state secrets, identity theft, and more.

Apple's Targeting of Hacking Efforts

The tech giant has stated that it has tracked targeted hacking efforts toward iPhone users in more than 150 countries in just eight months, according to CNET.

Apple has already started a program of warning people when scammers and cybercriminals may target them.

When Lockdown Mode was introduced, cybersecurity experts said that it would represent an escalation on Apple's part because the feature would be available to those who want to activate it, according to CNBC.

Kurt Opsahl, the deputy executive director and the general counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that there had been several attempts over the past few years to make secure devices, but there has been no widespread adoption.

Even though Opsahl believes that an up-to-date phone is good enough for an average citizen, raising the cost of hacking a phone can help protect the devices.

What Privacy Means to Apple

Much of Apple's approach to cybersecurity can be tracked back to 2010, when the co-founder of the company, Steve Jobs, talked about his view of privacy on stage at the D8 conference.

Jobs said privacy means "people know what they are signing up for." He added that it is important for companies to let the customers "know precisely what you are going to do."

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Sophie Webster