BRITISH HERALD
TECH
Apple to add ‘lockdown’ safeguard on iPhones, iPads, Macs
A
pple said it will roll out a “lockdown” option for iPhones, iPads and Mac computers intended to protect against spyware unleashed by statesponsored hackers — although enabling that protection will also make these devices less useful. The safeguard announced is a tacit acknowledgement that not even Apple — the world’s most valuable company — has been able to adequately shield the iPhone and its other products against intrusions from statebacked hackers and commercial spyware. Governments have used these tools to violate the privacy of journalists, political dissidents and human rights activists.
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The new feature, called “lockdown mode,” will initially be offered as a test version so that security researchers can help Apple identify any bugs or weaknesses. Apple usually releases its major updates to its device operating systems in late September.
into iPhones and other Apple products. In its complaint, Apple accused NSO Group employees of being “amoral 21st century mercenaries who have created highly sophisticated cybersurveillance machinery that invites routine and flagrant abuse.”
While only a handful of countries appear to have the resources to develop in-house mobile phone hacking tools, private companies like Israel’s NSO Group have been selling phone hacking software to government agencies around the world for years.
NSO, which has been blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department, has denied any wrongdoing and said its products have been used to thwart child abusers and terrorists.
The growing hacker-for-hire problem prompted Apple to file a federal lawsuit late last year against NSO Group for breaking
Unlike the security features that Apple builds into most of its software, the company’s lockdown feature is meant to serve as an emergency button that Apple expects will only be needed by
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