- Apple has quietly added a new iMessage security feature in iOS 14 called BlastDoor.
- BlastDoor is a new sandbox inside iMessage that receives and sanitizes all iMessage content before it is displayed to the user.
- The security feature will prevent attacks via iMessage that could include malicious code for spying on iPhones.
One of the most important applications on any phone, regardless of model or operating system, is the messaging application. Chances are that most people use a collection of text messaging apps to keep in touch with friends and family. These applications have become extremely sophisticated over the years, offering a collection of advanced features to enhance the chat experience. Whether it’s iMessage on an iPhone, Google Messages on Android or WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and many more on both platforms, these applications offer essentially the same features. Many protect end-to-end encryption chats, and most support rich text, file sharing, emojis, voicemail, voice calls, and integration with many other applications.
But because text is so popular on smartphones, it’s also a great gateway for hackers to come up with all sorts of malicious attacks that can spread through chat apps. And Apple has quietly addressed this issue, according to a new report. The company has added an amazing new feature to iMessage in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, the kind we’ll never notice. It’s called BlasstDoor, a proper name for what the function should do.
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When Tony Stark asks AI on Friday to activate the “Armed Door” protocol End game, an armor shield surrounds the Avengers headquarters. That’s because I’m about to try something that hasn’t been done before, which could lead to a huge wave of destruction. There is no guarantee that the armor will actually prevent a potential explosion, but Stark is still trying. Marvel fans will definitely remember the scene, while others will not know what that means.
The essence with BlastDoor is similar. Everything that enters through iMessage goes through a secure location meant to contain threats that hackers could include in their messages. Bombs with very sophisticated information can allow hackers to attack unsuspecting iPhone users, but BlastDoor will stop all this now. The new security feature is amazing and is something that other operating systems and chat applications will no doubt copy. After all, hackers target all devices and programs, not just Apple.
As for why Apple didn’t mention anything about BlastDoor during WWDC 2020, when the first final version of iOS 14 was delivered, it’s understandable. This is Apple’s new move in an ongoing security battle with attackers. There’s no point in showing your hand when it comes to BlastDoor. It’s not a feature that device owners will actively use or iOS developers should be aware of. Everything should work passively in the background, keeping everyone safe. If security experts, like the people who work at Google Zero Lab, find out, that’s something else – and hackers might find this out once they realize that their armed messages aren’t having the desired effect.
First taken over by ZDNet, The BlastDoor feature was indeed discovered by a Googler from Project Zero.
Last year, a report showed that hackers targeted journalists through the iMessage code that allowed espionage without the recipient doing anything. But the problem was solved in iOS 14, so Google researcher Samuel Groß set out to find out how Apple mitigated the problem. That’s how he found BlastDoor, a feature that works behind the scenes with iMessage content. It is a type of “sandbox” functionality, similar to other sandboxes in iOS. BlastDoor will unpack and process the contents of all received messages in an isolated environment, so that a malicious payload cannot attack the operating system. In other words, every attachment and all the codes that come through iMessage, whether it’s real text, links or files, will be sanitized inside that closed environment.
If you haven’t upgraded to iOS 14 yet, BlastDoor is a great reason to do so, especially if you’re the kind of iPhone user who could be someone’s target.
“Overall, these changes are probably very close to the best that could have been made, given the need for compatibility with previous versions and should have a significant impact on the security of iMessage and the platform as a whole,” wrote Google . “It’s great to see Apple setting aside resources for this type of major refactoring to improve end-user security. Moreover, these changes also highlight the value of offensive security work: not only have bugs been fixed, but structural improvements have been made based on information obtained from the exploitation of development work. ”
Groß’s blog post detailing the new iMessage security feature is available at this link.
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Chris Smith began writing about gadgets as a hobby, and before he knew it, he was sharing his views on technology with readers around the world. Whenever he doesn’t write about gadgets, he can’t stay away from them, even though he tries desperately. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.