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Apple is making your iPhone more secure to fight off nation-state hackers

 1 year ago
source link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-is-making-your-i-phone-more-secure-to-fight-off-nation-state-hackers-180008035.html
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Apple is making your iPhone more secure to fight off nation-state hackers

Daniel Howley
·Technology Editor
Thu, December 8, 2022, 3:00 AM·4 min read

Apple (AAPL) is upping the ante on user security with three new initiatives that it says will protect everyone from the average consumer to high-value hacker targets like diplomats and human rights activists.

The new security features—Security Keys, iMessage Contact Key Verification, and Advanced Data Protection—will allow you to do things like ensure who you’re chatting with via iMessage is actually who they claim to be and lockdown their iCloud accounts.

“Our security teams work tirelessly to keep users’ data safe, and with iMessage Contact Key Verification, Security Keys, and Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, users will have three powerful new tools to further protect their most sensitive data and communications,” Apple’s senior VP of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said in a statement.

Apple says that no one hacking incident influenced its decision to create the new security features. In the past, however, organizations like NSO Group have sold software that was then used by governments to break into dissidents’ iPhones. The hope is that these improved security measures will significantly cut back on such attacks.

Apple will soon allow you to log into your devices using physical keys in a bid to thwart hackers. (Image: Apple)
Apple will soon allow you to log into your devices using physical keys in a bid to thwart hackers. (Image: Apple)

Security Keys, which will be available globally in 2023, ensure that you’re the only person who can log into your iCloud account by requiring that you use both your password and a physical key to access the service. Standard versions of two-factor authentication let you log into your account by entering your password and then approving the move via text message or a secondary app.

But sophisticated hacking operations can use things like spear phishing attacks to gain access to your secondary apps. In some instances, hackers are able to clone victims’ SIM cards, giving them the ability to receive confirmation texts required to sign into accounts protected by two-factor authentication.

With Security Keys, you’ll need to connect an actual key to your iPhone, iPad, or Mac that’s tied to your account to approve your login. The idea is that by requiring a user to use a physical hardware key, Apple is eliminating the possibility that a hacker who stole a user’s secondary app password or cloned their SIM card can get into their victim’s account.


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