Apple’s Newest Attempt at Improving Privacy

After over 6 million infiltration and spyware attacks on people’s iPhones, according to Apple, the company is launching another layer of protection on their devices. The feature is entitled Lockdown Mode which, as intimidating as it may sound, simply “locks down” apps that may affect one’s privacy such as Facetime or Contacts. The feature is tentative to launch on it’s newest iOS 16 devices.

“Lockdown will be the first major capability of it’s kind”, says Apple Head of Security Ivan Krstic. “It is a groundbreaking capability that reflects our unwavering commitment to protecting users from even the rarest, most sophisticated attacks. While the vast majority of users will never be the victims of highly targeted cyberattacks, we will work tirelessly to protect the small number of users who are”.

Features of Lockdown Mode include blocking attachments in messages which may otherwise be provocative or even threatful to one’s privacy as well as blocking undesired USB ports on other devices. It even blocks unscheduled FaceTime calls by disabling certain blocks of its JavaScript code. The revenue necessary for these features equates to over $2 million!

Lockdown Mode was created after the company had received multiple cybersecurity attacks from the Israeli Surveillance Group NSO known for hijacking people’s iPhones. Accroding to Apple reporter Lucas Ropek, the most targeted victims were “political activists, those of color, journalists and diplomats, all of which were addressed by Apple”.

Those who are concerned about the feature’s convoluted security system need not worry; Apple pledges that this feature is entirely optional and should be only be used in an absolute emergency. “Lockdown Mode is an extreme optional protection that should be used only if you believe you may be personally targeted by a highly sophisticated cyberattack”, says Krstic. “Apple works tirelessly to protect it’s users. I am deeply proud of taking this next steps and hope our users will be too”.