Buried in a sea of flashy new features announced by Apple this week, the tech giant also unveiled a new security technology for its latest iPhone 17 and iPhone Air devices. This new security technology was specifically designed to combat the types of vulnerabilities that surveillance vendors rely on the most, Apple said.
The feature is called Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE), and it’s designed to help stop memory corruption errors, which are some of the most common vulnerabilities exploited by spyware developers and makers of phone forensics devices used by law enforcement.
“Known mercenary spyware chains used against iOS share a common denominator with those targeting Windows and Android: they exploit memory security vulnerabilities that are interchangeable, powerful, and exist across the industry,” Apple wrote in its blog post on the subject.
Cybersecurity experts, including people who make hacking tools and use iPhones, tell TechCrunch that this new security technology could make Apple’s latest iPhones some of the most secure devices on the planet. The result will likely make life harder for companies that make spyware and exploit zero-days to plant spyware on a target phone or extract data from it.
“The iPhone 17 is probably now the most secure computing environment on the planet that is still connected to the internet,” a security researcher who has worked on developing and selling zero-days and other cyber exploits to the US government told TechCrunch.
The researcher told TechCrunch that Mie will increase the cost and time to develop their use for the latest iPhones, and will raise the prices for paying customers accordingly.
“It’s a huge deal,” said the researcher, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss sensitive matters. “It’s not hack-proof. But it’s the closest thing we have to hack-proof. None of this will ever be 100% perfect. But it raises the stakes the most.”
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Jiska Classen, a professor and researcher who studies iOS at the Hasso Platter Institute in Germany, agreed that Mie will increase the cost of developing surveillance technology.
Classen said this is because some of the bugs and exploits companies and researchers are currently working on will stop working once the new iPhones are out and Mie is introduced.
“I could also imagine that within a certain time window, some mercenary spyware vendors don’t have any working exploits for iPhone 17,” Classen said.
“It’s definitely going to make their lives more difficult,” said researcher Patrick Ward, who runs a startup that makes cybersecurity products specifically for Apple devices. “Of course, that comes with the caveat that it’s always a game of cat and mouse.”
Wardle said people who are worried about being hacked with spyware should upgrade to the new iPhones.
Eksperti TechCrunch runāja ar minēto Mie samazinās abu attālo hakeru efektivitāti, piemēram, tos, kas palaisti ar spiegprogrammatūru, piemēram, NSO Group Pegasus un Paragon grafītu. Tas arī palīdzēs aizsargāt pret fiziskām ierīču hakeriem, piemēram, tiem, kas tiek veikti ar tālruņa atbloķēšanu, piemēram, Cellebrite vai GrayKey.
Uzņemoties “lielāko daļu ekspluatācijas”
Lielākā daļa mūsdienu ierīču, ieskaitot lielāko daļu iPhones šodien, darbojas programmatūrā, kas rakstīta programmēšanas valodās, kurām ir tendence uz ar atmiņu saistītām kļūdām, ko bieži sauc par atmiņas pārplūdes vai korupcijas kļūdām. Pēc aktivizēšanas atmiņas kļūda var izraisīt atmiņas saturu no vienas lietotnes uz citām lietotāja ierīces vietām, kur tai nevajadzētu iet.
Ar atmiņu saistītās kļūdas var ļaut ļaunprātīgiem hakeriem piekļūt un kontrolēt ierīces atmiņas daļas, kuras tām nevajadzētu atļaut. Piekļuvi var izmantot, lai stādītu ļaunprātīgu kodu, kas spēj iegūt plašāku piekļuvi personas datiem, kas saglabāti tālruņa atmiņā, un to izspiežot pa tālruņa interneta savienojumu.
Mie mērķis ir aizstāvēties pret šāda veida plašiem atmiņas uzbrukumiem, ievērojami samazinot uzbrukuma virsmu, kurā var izmantot atmiņas ievainojamības.
Saskaņā ar Halvar Flake, aizskarošas kiberdrošības ekspertu, atmiņas korupcijas “ir lielākais vairums izmantošanas līdzekļu”.
Mie ir veidots uz tehnoloģiju, ko sauc par Atmiņas marķēšanas paplašinājums (MTE), kuru sākotnēji izstrādāja mikroshēmu veidotājs. Savā emuāra ierakstā Apple sacīja, ka pēdējo piecu gadu laikā tas strādāja ar ARM, lai paplašinātu un uzlabotu atmiņas drošības funkcijas produktā, ko sauc par uzlabotu atmiņas marķēšanas paplašinājumu (EMTE).
Mie ir Apple ieviešana šo jauno drošības tehnoloģiju, kas izmanto Apple priekšrocības, kas pilnībā kontrolē savu tehnoloģiju kaudzīti, sākot no programmatūras līdz aparatūrai, atšķirībā no daudziem tā tālruņu veidošanas konkurentiem.
Google Piedāvā mte Dažām Android ierīcēm; Arī uz drošību orientēts grafeneos, pielāgota Android versija Piedāvā mteApvidū
Bet citi eksperti saka, ka Apple Mie iet soli tālāk. Flake sacīja, ka Pixel 8 un Grapeneos ir “gandrīz salīdzināmi”, bet jaunie iPhones būs “visdrošākās mainstream” ierīces.
Mie strādā, piešķirot katru jaunāka iPhone atmiņas gabalu ar slepenu tagu, efektīvi savu unikālo paroli. Tas nozīmē, ka tikai lietotnes ar šo slepeno tagu nākotnē var piekļūt fiziskajai atmiņai. Ja noslēpums nesakrīt, drošības aizsardzība iesāk un bloķē pieprasījumu, lietotne avārijās un notikums ir reģistrēts.
Šī avārija un žurnāls ir īpaši nozīmīgs, jo, visticamāk, spiegprogrammatūras un nulles dienās, lai izraisītu avāriju, atvieglojot Apple un drošības pētniekus, kas izmeklē uzbrukumus, lai tos pamanītu.
“A wrong move would lead to a crash and potentially recoverable artifacts for the defender,” said Matthias Frielingsdorf, vice president of research at Iverify, a company that builds an app to protect smartphones from spyware. “Attackers already had an incentive to avoid memory corruption.”
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
MIE will be enabled by default on the system, which means it will protect apps like Safari and iMessage, which can be entry points for spyware. But third-party apps will have to implement MIE themselves to improve their user protection. Apple released a version of Emte for developers to do just that.
In other words, Mie is a huge step in the right direction, but it will take some time to see its impact, depending on how many developers implement it and how many people buy new iPhones.
Some attackers will inevitably still find a way.
“Mie is a good thing, and it could even be a big deal. It could significantly increase the costs for attackers and even force some of them out of the market,” Frielingsdorf said. “But there will be a lot of bad actors who can still succeed and maintain their businesses.”
“As long as there are buyers, there will be sellers,” Frielingsdorf said.
