iPhone (iPad, Mac) Lockdown Mode coming in Apple devices

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https://9to5mac.com/2022/07/06/iphone-lockdown-mode-ios-16/

…Apple has announced a brand new “extreme” security feature called iPhone Lockdown Mode – coming to iPad and Mac as well – to help protect against targeted cyber attacks.

Apple says that the opt-in iPhone Lockdown Mode is the first feature of its kind and will provide an extreme level of security. And truly isn’t meant for the average person. It’s made for the very very small percentage of users who might be specifically targeted by highly sophisticated threats such as nation-state-sponsored mercenary spyware, like the Pegasus attack.

With Lockdown Mode enabled on iPhone, iPad, or Mac, device functionality is limited to greatly reduce the “attack surface” of potential exploits and harden defenses…

Here’s how Apple describes the safety measures Lockdown Mode will take when it launches this fall:

Messages: Most message attachment types other than images are blocked. Some features, like link previews, are disabled.

Web browsing: Certain complex web technologies, like just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compilation, are disabled unless the user excludes a trusted site from Lockdown Mode.

Apple services: Incoming invitations and service requests, including FaceTime calls, are blocked if the user has not previously sent the initiator a call or request.

FaceTime: Incoming FaceTime calls from people you have not previously called are blocked.

Shared Albums: Shared albums will be removed from the Photos app, and new Shared albums invitations will be blocked.

Wired connections with a computer or accessory are blocked when iPhone is locked.

Configuration profiles cannot be installed, and the device cannot enroll into mobile device management (MDM), while Lockdown Mode is turned on…

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According to the article linked here by Alex, to launch a Mac in Lockdown mode:

“Open the “Settings app” in iOS 16 or “System Settings” on macOS Ventura
Choose Privacy & Security
At the bottom, tap Lockdown Mode
Now you can choose Learn More or Turn On Lockdown Mode
Tap Turn On & Restart”
Presumably, head back to the same place to turn off Lockdown Mode.”

“Presumably, head back to the same place to turn off Lockdown Mode”, really?

Well, this thing is now “coming”, as Alex has pointed out in the title of this thread — and  still in “beta”, according to the article he has linked: meaning still being tested by selected people contacted by the developers at Apple, because they are willing to try out the new feature and find bugs, etc. to help Apple get things right before it becomes generally available to users. And it its intended for the still forthcoming, some time in October (probably) new version of macOS (in particular), not any current and, or supported one.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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OscarCP wrote:

“Presumably, head back to the same place to turn off Lockdown Mode”, really?

You will be able turn the setting off.

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The impact of iOS 16 Lockdown mode in Safari

A look at how the new iOS lockdown mode affects web performances and features.

The iOS 16 beta 3 introduced a new privacy feature: Lockdown Mode. The idea is to disable some features in iOS to reduce the possibility of privacy related attacks.

Apple also gives a rough list of the features disabled in Lockdown, including one which caught my eye:

Web browsing: Certain complex web technologies, like just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compilation, are disabled unless the user excludes a trusted site from Lockdown Mode..

Disabled features

Through manual testing and Modernizr feature detection, the following features get disabled in Lockdown mode:

WebAssembly
MP3 Playback
MathML
Gamepad API
Web Audio API
WebGL
JPEG 2000
Speech Recognition API
MediaDevices.getUserMedia()
RTCDataChannel
PDF Viewer
SVG Fonts
Most of these have been disabled as a way to reduce possible user tracking…

These changes are applied to all iOS and iPadOS browsers since they have to use WebKit under the hood.

Using Chrome, Firefox, or Brave will still disable these features…

Conclusion

For people in need of privacy against targeted tracking, Lockdown mode seems to be a decent way to easily reduce some attack surface, especially with how easy it is to enable.

While it will not provide a way to protect against all fingerprinting, Apple chose to target some specific Web API and features that make tracking easy and hard to block for non-technical users.

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