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Apple Adding ‘Lockdown Mode’ to Devices

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The feature offers the highest possible level of security.

Security is an ever-present concern for all users of electronic devices. Even as security measures become more advanced, bad actors become craftier, uncovering new ways to crack protection. In the endless battle for security, Apple has unveiled their newest, most powerful security option yet.

This week, Apple announced “Lockdown Mode,” a new security feature that will be rolling out to Apple devices later this year. Lockdown Mode is an optional, activatable mode that completely locks down a device, severely limiting its ability to interact with any other devices or wireless sources. The point of this is to offer a layer of protection against the world’s most sophisticated cyberattacks from malicious websites or monitoring software. Most people aren’t victims of these kinds of attacks, but Lockdown Mode is meant to be an extreme option for the few who are.

“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,” Ivan Krstić, Apple’s head of security engineering and architecture, said in a statement. “Lockdown Mode is a groundbreaking capability that reflects our unwavering commitment to protecting users from even the rarest, most sophisticated attacks.”

Apple is so confident in the uncrackability of Lockdown Mode, that they’re offering a $2 million bug bounty for any white hat hackers who manage to find and exploit some manner of vulnerability in it. Apple also announced their plans to invest $10 million into new organizations that “investigate, expose, and prevent highly targeted cyberattacks, including those created by private companies developing state-sponsored mercenary spyware.”

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