Apple's "Lockdown Mode" aims to take privacy to the "extreme" level

Although Apple is constantly improving the security of its devices by introducing several new privacy features, the company is taking things to the next level through a feature it calls the “Lockdown Mode”. The feature is primarily meant for journalists, politicians, and people who are at an elevated risk for state-sponsored spyware like the infamous Pegasus spyware.

That said, anyone running iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura can use Lockdown Mode.

Unlike normal privacy measures that strengthen the device security but don’t disable features, Lockdown Mode interrupts common attack vectors that hackers use to gain access to the targeted devices. This includes disabling Just-In-Time (JIT) Javascript rendering during web browsing, blocking message attachment types other than images, disabling link previews, and stopping FaceTime calls from unknown sources among other things.

According to Apple’s head of Security Engineering and Architecture Ivan Krstić, “Lockdown Mode 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.”

Cupertino is also doubling its bounty to US$2 million for finding security flaws in Lockdown Mode. The company is also donating US$10 million to organizations that investigate and help prevent critical cybersecurity attacks like state-sponsored spyware.

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