Apple fortifies against mercenary spyware
Very few people will ever be targeted by a multimillion-dollar hack, but Apple’s new Lockdown Mode feature is designed to protect those who are, writes Tim Biggs.
Apple will roll out a new maximum security feature for its iPhones later this year, designed to protect the likes of political leaders and journalists from highly sophisticated state-sponsored attacks.
Lockdown Mode, which the company describes as an ‘‘extreme, optional protection’’, comes after an investigation last year alleged widespread abuse of powerful cyber tools created by Israeli firm NSO Group.
The investigation from Amnesty, Citizen Lab and others indicated that activists, politicians and journalists were victims of state-sponsored surveillance, as well as presidents, prime ministers and even a king. NSO licenses its incredibly powerful spyware – which can infect a target iPhone without the victim needing to do anything – to governments around the world.
‘‘While the vast majority of users will never be the victims of highly targeted cyber attacks, we will work tirelessly to protect the small number of users who are,’’ said Apple’s head of security engineering Ivan Krstic, in announcing the feature.
‘‘That includes continuing to design defences specifically for these users, as well as supporting researchers and organisations around the world doing critically important work in exposing mercenary companies that create these digital attacks.’’
The company will donate any damages it’s awarded in its current lawsuit against NSO Group, plus US$10 million (NZ$16.9m), into a grant to support the investigation and prevention of such spyware.
It also said it would award up to US$2m to researchers who find ways to bypass Lockdown Mode, and report them to Apple.
Security and privacy have become increasingly important to Apple in differentiating its products from competitors.
And so even though attacks like those created by NSO Group affect an extremely small proportion of users, the reports last year risked damaging the iPhone’s reputation for being impregnable.
The new mode, which will come as part of iOS 16, works by closing off iPhone functions that are typically exploited by high-end hacks. Most message attachments are automatically blocked, link previews are disabled, many web technologies are turned off unless a user deems a website safe, and FaceTime requests from unknown callers are rejected, among other measures.
It has been previously reported that some versions of Pegasus, the NSO Group’s main product, have been injected into iPhones using a GIF or other attachment sent in an iMessage.
A security team at Google, working with Apple, subsequently detailed how it was possible to make iPhone attacks that don’t require the victim to click on or even open the message; the hack works as soon as the message is received.
NSO Group has denied its products have been used to facilitate human rights abuses, and said it only sells to governments using the technology for national security and anti-terrorism. But Citizen Lab’s investigations indicated the software had been used by authoritarian governments to monitor dissident journalists and protestors.
‘‘There is now undeniable evidence from the research of the Citizen Lab and other organisations that the mercenary surveillance industry is facilitating the spread of authoritarian practices and massive human rights abuses worldwide,’’ said Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert.
‘‘[Apple’s grant] will send a strong message and help nurture independent researchers and advocacy organisations holding mercenary spyware vendors accountable.’’
Lockdown Mode will also be available for Apple’s computers as part of this year’s macOS Ventura update.
– Sydney Morning Herald