Apple is a infamous, cramped, and insular organization, a tendency that often runs counter to the security research community. The company is usually secretive about the technical details of how its products and safety features work. Apple’s annual platform security guide, the new edition of which was released today, is therefore the source on which security researchers say they trusted the most for breadcrumbs. It offers the most comprehensive and technical look at Apple’s warranties to date – including the first documentation of Apple’s new M1 chips.
Apple first presented the guide a decade ago as a very short letter at the beginning of the iPhone era. It will later evolve into an “iOS security guide” aimed exclusively at mobile devices, before being extended to MacOS in 2019. It details security features such as Touch ID and Face ID, Apple’s secure enclave, and secure startup so that software developers and security researchers can better understand how these features work and interact with each other. Over the years, the company has tried to balance the readability for a wide audience with utility for those with deeper technical knowledge. It contains more information than ever before about features both new and old.
“I am constantly refer to that guide, and it has been for years, ”says Sarah Edwards, a longtime Apple security researcher. ‘I use it for all aspects of my research, my day job, my teaching series, everything. About once a year I sit with it on my iPad and read it page by page to see what I missed before or what happens to ‘click’ if I am going to review it again after learning something through my research. ”
This year’s edition contains considerably extensive information on hardware such as M1, new details on the secure enclave, and an accounting of a number of software features.
Researchers and hackers make a lot through reverse engineering, the process of determining how something is built by researching the final product. The “security through ambiguity” helps keep attackers to some extent, but by releasing the platform security guide, Apple can help its customers leverage their defensive features while also providing guidelines for security researchers, in the hope that they will return vulnerabilities can wind. the bad guys do.
“Everything can be reversed. It’s a lot of fun, at least for me, ”says Will Strafach, a longtime iOS researcher and creator of the Guardian Firewall app for iOS. ‘But having an extensive and detailed authoritative document from Apple is handy because it enables people to know the intentions and limitations associated with certain security features. Apple always does an excellent job with it, even if it does not dive too deep into the weeds. ‘
Researchers say they always have a “wish list” item they want Apple to include in future directories. Strafach wants to know more about how M1 chips handle safe when booting other operating systems, always a question for jailbreakers when Apple releases new processors. And he’s curious about Apple’s iOS 14 enhancements that were meant to deny ubiquitous jailbreak exploitation, but in some cases can be circumvented.
Researchers each have specific, even esoteric hopes and dreams for new guides based on their specialties. Patrick Wardle, an independent Apple security researcher, said he hopes to see more details about Apple’s own antivirus and malware detection equipment, something the company added in today’s report. He still hopes to gain more insight on how to control more macOS features more finely.