Hackers may have a tougher time trying to break into an iPhone in the coming future, as Apple is changing the way it secures the code running in iOS. This change by the company will help foil hacking attempts with the help of a technique called zero-click (also 0-click) exploit, as per a report by Vice. The zero-click hack allows the perpetrator to take control of an iPhone without interacting with the target, like having to send a malicious link. Since there is no such link sent, these attacks are said to be harder to detect.
The Cupertino-based tech giant has reportedly made the change in the beta version of iOS 14.5. The final rollout of the iOS version, with the new safeguard in place, is still some days away. However, since it has been rolled out to the beta, it hopefully won’t take long to arrive in the final release.
As per its Platform Security Guide, Apple, since 2018, has been using a technology called Pointer Authentication Codes (PAC) to prevent hackers from using malicious codes and making use of the corrupted memory to their own ends. The technology has reportedly only recently been introduced for the ISA pointers (of the iOS code). Earlier the pointers were not protected with PAC.
The PAC technology makes authentication and validation of the ISA pointers (a feature of iOS code) a must before they can be used, which is said to make it harder for hackers to breach the defences of the iPhone.