Apple Security
By MacRumors Staff
Apple Security How Tos

How to Enable Lockdown Mode for Heightened Security on iPhone and iPad
With the release of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16, Apple introduced Lockdown Mode, offering users an "extreme" level of security. This article explains who Lockdown Mode is for, what it does, and how to enable it.
In iOS 16 and iPadOS 16, Apple brought iPhone and iPad users Lockdown Mode, an optional new security feature that's designed to protect users who may be at risk of highly targeted...
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iOS 14 Green and Orange Dots: What Do They Mean?
Digital privacy is a perennial hot topic these days, and Apple is regarded as being at the forefront of security when it comes to smartphone and tablet operating systems. For example, for an app to access your iPhone or iPad's camera, camera and microphone access must be enabled for the app in question in the Settings app.
Social media apps will often ask you for access to your device's...

How to Use Automatic Strong Passwords and Password Auditing in iOS 12
In iOS 12, Apple has introduced new password-related features that are designed to make it easier for iPhone and iPad users to create strong, secure, and unique passwords for app and website logins. In this guide, we'll show you how to use two of those features: automatic strong passwords and password auditing. Automatic strong passwords ensures that if you're prompted by a website or app...
Apple Security Articles

Apple Launches New Security Research Website
Apple today introduced Apple Security Research, a new website that is dedicated to improving the methods available to security researchers for reporting issues to Apple. The site offers up tools for sending Apple security reports, getting real-time status updates, and communicating with Apple engineers.
In addition to housing information on the Apple Security Bounty program, the website is a ...

PSA: Safari Security Flaw 'Actively Exploited,' Update Your Apple Devices Now
This week, Apple released critical software updates for Safari which fix a security flaw that exists in the browser across iPhone, iPad, and Mac platforms. Here's what you need to know.
Specifically, the platform-wide fix is for a vulnerability in Safari's WebKit engine that Apple believes may have been "actively exploited" in the wild by hackers. The flaw, according to Apple, could...

Apple Apologizes to Researcher for Ignoring iOS Vulnerabilities, Says It's 'Still Investigating'
Last week, security researcher Denis Tokarev made several zero-day iOS vulnerabilities public after he said that Apple had ignored his reports and had failed to fix the issues for several months.
Tokarev today told Motherboard that Apple got in touch after he went public with his complaints and after they saw significant media attention. In an email, Apple apologized for the contact delay...

Researcher Says Apple Ignored Three Zero-Day Security Vulnerabilities Still Present in iOS 15
In 2019, Apple opened its Security Bounty Program to the public, offering payouts up to $1 million to researchers who share critical iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, or watchOS security vulnerabilities with Apple, including the techniques used to exploit them. The program is designed to help Apple keep its software platforms as safe as possible.
In the time since, reports have surfaced indicating...

Apple's iOS 14.8 Update Fixes Zero-Click Exploit Used to Distribute Pegasus Spyware
Today's iOS 14.8 update addresses a critical vulnerability that Apple engineers have been working around the clock to fix, reports The New York Times.
Last week, The Citizen Lab informed Apple about a new zero-click iMessage exploit targeting Apple's image rendering library. Called FORCEDENTRY, the exploit could infect an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac with the Pegasus spyware, providing...

Security Researchers Unhappy With Apple's Bug Bounty Program
Apple offers a bug bounty program that's designed to pay security researchers for discovering and reporting critical bugs in Apple operating systems, but researchers are not happy with how it operates or Apple's payouts in comparison to other major tech companies, reports The Washington Post.
In interviews with more than two dozen security researchers, The Washington Post collected a number...

Apple Updates Platform Security Guide, Says Kernel Extensions Won't Be Supported on Future Apple Silicon Macs
Apple today shared an updated version of its Platform Security Guide [PDF], providing a comprehensive overview of the latest security advancements across iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS Big Sur, tvOS 14, watchOS 7, and more.
For example, the guide provides security details about Safari's optional Password Monitoring feature on iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur, which automatically keeps an eye out for any...

Hackers Discover 55 Apple Vulnerabilities, Awarded Nearly $300,000 in Bounties [Updated]
A group of hackers has been awarded nearly $300,000 by Apple for discovering 55 vulnerabilities in the company's systems.
Sam Curry, Brett Buerhaus, Ben Sadeghipour, Samuel Erb, and Tanner Barnes spent three months hacking Apple platforms and services to discover a range of weaknesses. The 55 vulnerabilities the team discovered were of varying severity, with some being critical. During ...

Now Patched 'Sign in With Apple' Bug Left Users Open to Attack
Researcher Bhavuk Jain in April discovered a critical Sign in With Apple vulnerability that could have resulted in a takeover of some user accounts. The bug was specific to third party apps that used Sign in With Apple and didn't implement additional security measures.
Jain notes that Sign in With Apple works by authenticating a user through a JWT (JSON Web Token) or a code that's generated...

Apple Says Recently Discovered iOS Mail Vulnerabilities Pose No Immediate Threat, But a Patch Is in the Works
Apple has responded to a recent report on vulnerabilities discovered in its iOS Mail app, claiming the issues do not pose an immediate risk to users.
Earlier this week, San Francisco-based cybersecurity company ZecOps said it had uncovered two zero-day security vulnerabilities affecting Apple's stock Mail app for iPhones and iPads. One of the vulnerabilities was said to enable an...

Apple Joins the FIDO Alliance to Help Develop and Promote Authentication Standards
Apple has joined the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance, an open industry association whose mission is to develop and promote stronger authentication standards and help reduce the world's over-reliance on passwords.
Apple joins existing members Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung and others in a common goal to secure online connections and support the adoption of the U2F authentication...

Apple Publishes New Apple Platform Security Guide
Coinciding with the launch of its public bug bounty program, Apple today published its new Apple Platform Security guide, offering users details about the security technology and features that are implemented within Apple platforms – including sections on Mac for the first time.
The documentation has been updated to reflect changes in iOS 13.3, iPadOS 13.3, macOS 10.15.2, tvOS 13.3, and...

Apple Officially Launches Public Bug Bounty Program Covering All Apple Software
Apple today officially opened its bug bounty program to all security researchers, after the company announced the expansion plan at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas earlier this year.
Prior to now, Apple's bug bounty program was invitation-based and non-iOS devices were not included. As reported by ZDNet, from today any security researcher who locates bugs in iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS,...

Israeli Security Firm Claims Spyware Tool Can Harvest iCloud Data in Targeted iPhone Attack
An Israeli security firm claims it has developed a smartphone surveillance tool that can harvest not only a user's local data but also all their device's communications with cloud-based services provided by the likes of Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.
According to a report from the Financial Times [paywalled], the latest Pegasus spyware sold by NSO Group is being marketed to potential...

Researchers and Hackers Use Rare Dev-Fused Prototype iPhones to Unlock Security Secrets
If you've ever wondered how security researchers and hackers manage to bypass Apple's protections and security features to uncover iPhone vulnerabilities and other sensitive info, Motherboard is out today with a new report that has an answer.
Hackers and security researchers use rare "dev-fused" iPhones created for internal use at Apple. These dev-fused iPhones have not finished the production ...

Researcher Gives Apple Details of macOS Keychain Security Flaw Despite No Mac Bug Bounty Program
A German teenager who discovered a macOS Keychain security flaw last month has now shared the details with Apple, after having initially refused to hand them over because of the company's lack of a bug bounty program for the Mac. Eighteen-year-old Linus Henze dubbed the zero-day macOS vulnerability he found "KeySteal," which, as demoed in the video above, can be used to disclose all...

Apple Says No Personal Data Was Compromised in Australian Teenager Hacking Incident
In a statement, Apple has confirmed that no personal data was compromised by a 16-year-old student from Melbourne, Australia who admitted to hacking into Apple's internal servers on multiple occasions over one year.
The Guardian:At Apple, we vigilantly protect our networks and have dedicated teams of information security professionals that work to detect and respond to threats.
In this...

Security Researchers Find Way to Prevent USB Restricted Mode From Activating on iOS Devices
Security researchers claim to have discovered a loophole that prevents an iPhone or iPad from activating USB Restricted Mode, Apple's latest anti-hacking feature in iOS 12 beta and iOS 11.4.1, which was released on Monday.
USB Restricted Mode is designed to make iPhones and iPads immune to certain hacking techniques that use a USB connection to download data through the Lightning connector to...

FBI Unable to Retrieve Encrypted Data From 6,900 Devices Over the Last 11 Months
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation was unable to retrieve data from 6,900 mobile devices that it attempted to access over the course of the last 11 months, reports the Associated Press.
FBI Director Christopher Wray shared the number at an annual conference for the International Association of Chiefs of Police on Sunday.
During the first 11 months of the current fiscal year,...

Apple Says 'KRACK' Wi-Fi Vulnerabilities Are Already Patched in iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS Betas
Apple has already patched serious vulnerabilities in the WPA2 Wi-Fi standard that protects many modern Wi-Fi networks, the company told iMore's Rene Ritchie this morning.
The exploits have been addressed in the iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and macOS betas that are currently available to developers and will be rolling out to consumers soon. A KRACK attack proof-of-concept from security researcher ...