Apple, a consumer technology giant, plans to roll out a new ‘Lockdown’ option for its products, including iPhones, iPads and Macs. This feature would be added to protect the Apple devices from state sponsored hackers who release spyware. However, according to an AP report, the Apple devices with Lockdown activated would make them less usable.
This only means one thing. Recognized as one of the tech companies with the most secure products, Apple has failed to adequately shield iPhones, Macs and iPads. But let’s make some leeway to Apple here because we are talking about state sponsored hackers who are very knowledgeable about what they do. To protect its products from state-backed hackers and commercial spyware, Apple will give users an option to use Lockdown protection. The privacy rights of journalists, human rights activists and more have been violated in the past, which is why Apple has implemented this.
Lockdown mode feature not quite ready at the moment
The report stated that Apple would initially offer it as a trial version that would allow security researchers to identify weaknesses and bugs in the feature. The feature may come to the iPhones with the iOS 16†
Governments around the world have purchased phone hacking tools and software from private companies such as Israel’s NSO Group.
Apple also filed a federal lawsuit against NSO Group last year for alleged break-ins into iPhones and other products. The lock feature may not be for everyone. But it will certainly help a small section of society and is more of an emergency button in nature.
With Lockdown Mode enabled, users will not be able to send links in text messages, nor will they be able to receive FaceTime calls from new numbers. The web browsing experience will also be very limited.
Journalists, activists and more like this will benefit greatly from the lockdown feature.
