Anyone hoping to hack into an iPhone now finds it more difficult thanks to a change in iOS 18.1. Whether this is police, foreign espionage agents or criminal hackers, there’s now much less time to crack the security on Apple handsets because of a simple trick.
It’s another example of Apple being serious about protecting user privacy.
Why ‘inactivity reboot’ locks hackers out of iPhones
iPhone offers considerable protection against hacking. Setting a password encrypts the contents of the device so someone can’t just pull the storage chip out and read it, for example. Nevertheless, hacking tools made by companies like Cellebrite take advantage of security holes in iOS to break into a handset. Apple closes these holes whenever it discovers them, however.
Its latest move in this back-and-forth war with hackers is surprisingly simple: an iPhone running the recently released iOS 18.1 restarts itself after sitting unused for four days. It’s called “inactivity reboot.”
Experts say that an iPhone that’s yet to be unlocked by its owner since the last reboot is very challenging to hack into. But an iPhone that’s been unlocked at least once by its owner since the last reboot is easier to crack. So the goal of iOS 18.1’s inactivity reboot is to change the state from After First Unlock (AFU) to Before First Unlock (BFU), according to Gizmodo.
One result is that police who thought they had plenty of time to hack into seized iPhone units found that there’s a very short deadline instead. But the same is true of repressive regimes trying to break into the iPhones of activists and journalists.
This is what Apple does
The security-enhancing trick is not at all surprising from Apple. CEO Tim Cook and other executives repeatedly have stated that “privacy is a fundamental human right.” They promise they work hard to embed privacy protections into every new product it makes.
Anyone serious about protecting the privacy of their iPhone should install iOS 18.1 today.
