Apple's Lockdown Mode might not be secure for online browsing; Here's why

While Apple is preparing to launch iOS 16 at the Far Out event in September, a private firm has claimed that one of the new features in the operating system risks users' privacy while browsing online. According to a report by Apple Insider, the new Lockdown Mode increases the security of users' iPhones but decreases their device's privacy while surfing online.

Lockdown Mode might compromise users' anonymity

The publication quotes John Ozbay, CEO of privacy firm Cryptee, saying that the way Apple's Lockdown Mode functions, informs the websites whether someone is using the Lockdown Mode or not. Ozbay elaborates by explaining how websites work. Essentially, websites use several device-based resources to load and showcase content such as fonts, images, embedded videos, and more.

However, when users will enable the Lockdown Mode, the websites will not be able to access those resources and detect that the user has enabled the high-security mode. It is also important to mention here that websites have access to a user's IP address. Hence, if they combine the information related to the Lockdown Mode with the IP address of the user, the high-security mode becomes a privacy risk in itself.

The publication also quotes Ozbay saying, "Lockdown Mode makes you safer, but also makes you easier to identify in a crowd." It is important to mention here users' IP address tells a lot of things about them, including the city from which they are accessing the internet, the ZIP code, as well as the name of the internet service provider.

In the wrong hands, this information may be enough to identify and locate someone. Cryptee has also created a proof of concept that shows how websites can figure out whether a user is in Lockdown Mode or not.  

In related news, Apple is gearing up for the launch event that is about to take place in a couple of weeks, and ahead of the event, it looks like the company has wrapped up iOS 16. In the latest report, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that Apple developers and engineers have finished working on the initial version of IOS 16 that is supposed to come out with the iPhone 14 launch.