Apple to release new ‘Lockdown Mode’ as it battles spyware firms

By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) – Apple Inc on Wednesday stated it plans to launch a brand new function known as “Lockdown Mode” this fall that goals so as to add a brand new layer of safety for human rights advocates, political dissidents and different targets of subtle hacking assaults.

The transfer comes after at the very least two Israeli corporations have exploited flaws in Apple’s software program to remotely break into iPhones with out the goal needing to click on or faucet something. NSO Group, the maker of the “Pegasus” software program that may perform such assaults, has been sued by Apple and positioned on a commerce blacklist by U.S. officers.

“Lockdown Mode” will come to Apple’s iPhones, iPads and Macs this fall and turning it on will block most attachments despatched to the iPhone’s Messages app. Safety researchers imagine NSO Group exploited a flaw in how Apple dealt with message attachments. The brand new mode may even block wired connections to iPhones when they’re locked. Israeli agency Cellebrite has used such guide connections to entry iPhones.

Apple representatives stated that they imagine subtle assaults the brand new function is designed to battle – known as “zero click on” hacking methods – are nonetheless comparatively uncommon and that almost all customers is not going to must lively the brand new mode.

Adware firms have argued they promote high-powered expertise to assist governments thwart nationwide safety threats. However human rights teams and journalists have repeatedly documented the usage of spy ware to assault civil society, undermine political opposition, and intrude with elections.

To assist harden the brand new function, Apple stated it would pay as much as $2 million for every flaw that safety researchers can discover within the new mode, which Apple representatives stated was the very best such “bug bounty” provided within the business.

Apple additionally stated it’s making a $10 million grant, plus any doable proceeds from its lawsuit in opposition to NSO Group, to teams that discover, expose and work to forestall focused hacking. Apple stated the grant will go to the Dignity and Justice Fund established by the Ford Basis, one of many largest personal foundations in the USA.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Modifying by Alexandra Hudson)