"Hackers Are Finding Ways to Hide Inside Apple's Walled Garden"

Apple's walled garden refers to the company's tech ecosystem in which devices' features and security are tightly controlled. Most experts agree that the locked-down approach of iOS has solved some significant security problems. However, it has been discovered that this locked-down nature is a double-edged sword in that the most advanced hackers can use the higher barriers to avoid capture. Bill Marczak, a senior researcher at the cybersecurity watchdog Citizen Lab, points out that while Apple's walled garden makes it more difficult for a lot of less-skilled hackers to break iPhones, the 1 percent of hackers with the greatest skill and higher amount of resources who successfully infiltrates the iPhone can end up being protected by Apple's extraordinary defenses. According to Marczak, as Apple continues to improve iPhone's security by investing millions in raising the wall, the best hackers also purchase or develop zero-click exploits that allow them to secretly take over iPhones. These exploits allow attackers to access restricted areas of the phone without showing any sign to the target that they have been compromised. Marczak argues that the iPhone's security barriers can help hackers avoid detection by investigators and prevent further understanding of their malicious behavior. It is suggested that a framework be created to allow device owners or authorized individuals to have greater forensic abilities to see if a device has been compromised, but this approach could be undermined through social engineering. This article continues to discuss the concept of Apple's walled garden, how this approach can benefit the most sophisticated hackers, and why it is difficult to fix this problem. 

MIT Technology Review reports "Hackers Are Finding Ways to Hide Inside Apple's Walled Garden"