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Apple says no one using Lockdown Mode has been hacked with spyware

105 points by jbegley

by 827a

3 subcomments

Trash headline from TechCrunch; the exact statement from Apple was:
> We are not aware of any successful mercenary spyware attacks against a Lockdown Mode-enabled Apple device.

by CGMthrowaway

1 subcomments

Related somewhat:
> On March 23, 2026, the Hong Kong government changed the implementing rules relating to the National Security Law. It is now a criminal offense to refuse to give the Hong Kong police the passwords or decryption assistance to access all personal electronic devices including cellphones and laptops. This legal change applies to everyone, including U.S. citizens, in Hong Kong, arriving or just transiting Hong Kong International Airport. In addition, the Hong Kong government also has more authority to take and keep any personal devices, as evidence, that they claim are linked to national security offenses.
https://hk.usconsulate.gov/security-alert-2026032601/

by seethishat

2 subcomments

We knew 30 years ago that message attachments (mostly email at that time) were a huge security problem. All those binary file types to parse... what could go wrong ;)
It's good to see Apple's Lockdown mode having such success by simply disabling message attachments.

by TheDong

1 subcomments

I continue to find Lockdown mode frustratingly insulting. Just give me the individual options (too) darnit.
Like "No facetime and message attachments from strangers, no link previews, no device connections", yes, please, I don't want dickpics from strangers.
"No javascript JIT or shared photo albums" no, I actually do want to be able to see friend's albums, and also want my battery to last longer due to optimizing JS.
How hard is it to keep the Lockdown Mode toggle, but also add "no link previews, no facetime calls from strangers, never join insecure wifi networks automatically" as separate option toggles I can turn on if I just want those?

by kakacik

4 subcomments

"with spyware" - a small addition. What about state actors, what about (semi)private israeli companies selling their solutions happily to all regimes regardless of consequences, what about any other kinds of hacks? As an european, by far the biggest threat to me are US state actors.
It would be such a good PR if they could just claim nobody has been hacked, period but I don't see that anywhere.

by il-b

1 subcomments

Would Lockdown Mode improve security in cases where the phone is physically connected to a malicious device, such as one from Cellebrite?

by hmokiguess

0 subcomment

To the best of my knowledge I too am unaware of any one using Lockdown Mode-enabled Apple device.

by namegulf

1 subcomments

It's also confusing.
Are we supposed to enable Lockdown mode always or only we enable manually when we think we're under attack?
According to instructions in settings, it is supposed to be enabled when under attack, isn't it too late already?
What are we missing...

by daft_pink

0 subcomment

I wish I could use Lockdown Mode on my phone, but not on my iPad.
I find Lockdown Mode challenging, because you basically have to use it on every device you own in the Apple ecosystem to have it enabled.

by tobyhinloopen

7 subcomments

how many users are using lockdown mode

by ya3r

0 subcomment

Are we aware of any attacks (or claims of attacks) against any previous version of the iPhone's Lockdown mode?

by mulmen

2 subcomments

I don't see any bears around here. Bear patrol must be working like a charm.

by comboy

2 subcomments

*that we know of

by varispeed

0 subcomment

And how do they know if they for decade apparently didn't know iOS was compromised?
Apple needs to get their shit together and stop gaslighting people.

by stotemoat

0 subcomment

[dead]

by kylehotchkiss

0 subcomment

insert titanic gif here

by 2OEH8eoCRo0

0 subcomment

That's amazing? All ten of them?

by cebert

1 subcomments

Kash Patel should have had this on. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/iran-linked-hackers-claim-b...