Researchers Discover New ‘BlastDoor’ Security Feature For Apple’s Messages

Text messages might seem rather mundane and somewhat innocent, but sometimes due to vulnerabilities and flaws in the code of iOS or Android, hackers might be able to do some rather nasty stuff through a simple and otherwise seemingly innocent text message, but Apple seems to have done something about it.

According to a report from ZDNet, it cites a new Project Zero report by researcher Samuel Groß in which it was discovered that Apple had implemented a new security measure in its Messages app. According to Groß, this new security feature in iOS 14 is called BlastDoor and it basically acts as a sandbox.

For those who are unfamiliar with the “sandbox” term, this is a security feature which allows code to run separately from the operating system. This means that in the event there is something malicious, any of the effects would and should be limited to the Messages app and won’t impact the rest of iOS.

Apple has built in many sandbox mechanisms within iOS to try and keep hacks and malware from destroying the entire system, so the inclusion of BlastDoor doesn’t come as a surprise, although it is new as far as Apple’s Messages app is concerned.

According to Groß, “Overall, these changes are probably very close to the best that could’ve been done given the need for backwards compatibility, and they should have a significant impact on the security of iMessage and the platform as a whole. It’s great to see Apple putting aside the resources for these kinds of large refactorings to improve end users’ security.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: Apps, Hack, iOS, Security