Apple's has always boasted that its security and privacy protection far exceed those of Android. The closure of iOS has become a natural "barrier" to minimize the occurrence of rogue software. In order to flaunt its protective performance, Apple decided to offer a global bounty of US$2 million, hoping that hackers would take the initiative to crack the newly launched "Lockdown Mode". What kind of medicine is Cook's gourd selling?
According to foreign media reports, Apple officially launched the iOS 16 system at the WWDC conference in June. There is a new feature called "Lock Mode", which is designed to prevent the intrusion of some hacker software. When the phone is in locked mode, most link previews of text messages, pictures and other key information will be blocked, and unknown calls will also be prohibited. At the same time, it cannot connect to external devices through data cables, and remote management software cannot be installed. The summary is to restrict the most basic functions of the mobile phone, making it impossible for rogue software to protect privacy and security.
The head of Apple's security department said: Although we know that the vast majority of iPhone users will never suffer a cyber attack, we still launched this feature. Because we believe that Lockdown Mode can be a breakthrough feature when users need to protect their privacy, and represents our unwavering commitment to protecting users from being attacked and falling victim to cyberattacks.
In order to verify the practicality of this feature, Apple decided to offer a reward of US$2 million (approximately 13.52 million yuan) to the industry to encourage hackers to crack the lock mode. This move by Cook has two purposes. First, of course, it is to show its confidence to the outside world that no one can crack the lock mode. It's like using "$2 million that no one can take away" for free advertising. Even if someone does break the lock mode, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages for Apple.
Assuming that someone can really break the lock mode, Apple can quickly find the loopholes and fix them before the official version is launched. It is better than fixing the problems after the official version is exposed. The $2 million spent is well worth it. Although the protection performance of iOS is indeed better than that of Android, it cannot be foolproof. There have been many security issues exposed in recent years, and there have even been embarrassments of being "cracked in one second" by hackers, proving that Apple's security protection is by no means impeccable. .
In October last year, a domestic white hat hacker publicly demonstrated how to crack an iPhone 13 Pro in one second and successfully won the highest award in the history of the "Tianfu Cup" international network security competition. He has been awarded 300,000 US dollars (approximately 1.91 million yuan at the time). Hackers can exploit the underlying vulnerabilities in Apple's chips to quickly gain the highest authority on the phone, access photo albums, APP data and other content at will, and execute operating commands.
Fortunately, white hat hackers provided feedback to Apple in advance before announcing the vulnerability to help it fix it during the software upgrade process, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous. This incident can also prove that for professional hackers, there is no argument that Apple is more secure than Android. It is just that it is more than enough to deal with regular rogue software. For us ordinary people, such protection performance is enough.
