“working hard to break into its own iPhones”
Apple is “working hard to break into its own iPhones,” and this weekend’s new report from The Independent provides an intriguing look at why and how. In an interview with The Independent for the story, Apple’s head of security engineering and architecture, Ivan Krstić, outlined the company’s reasoning for making such large security investments.
Notably, Krstić also talked about how upcoming EU regulations might force Apple to allow sideloading and access to third-party app stores on the iPhone.
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The fact that the vast majority of iPhone users would still prefer to use the App Store is one of the most often-used arguments in favor of sideloading. All that would be offered to those who opted to use sideloading is an additional option. But according to Krstić, that’s a “great misunderstanding.”
“That’s a great misunderstanding – and one we have tried to explain over and over. The reality of what the alternative distribution requirements enable is that software that users in Europe need to use – sometimes business software, other times personal software, social software, things that they want to use – may only be available outside of the store, alternatively distributed.”
The end-user would not genuinely have the option to use the App Store in these kinds of situations. They would have to use a third-party system instead, which Apple feels is less secure than the App Store.
“In that case, those users don’t have a choice to get that software from a distribution mechanism that they trust,” Krstić went on to say. “And so, in fact, it is simply not the case that users will retain the choice they have today to get all of their software from the App Store.”
Craig Federighi, an executive at Apple, has also strongly opposed sideloading. Federighi called sideloading a “cybercriminal’s best friend” in a speech two years ago. Federighi did concede, though, in an interview at this year’s WWDC, that Apple would be forced to abide by EU laws regarding sideloading and third-party app stores.
Krstić provides some fascinating insights into Apple’s security procedures and the data breaches, security, and encryption industry as a whole in other places in The Independent article. Krstić, for example, mentioned how Apple and governments frequently disagree on user data protection.
“We do not see ourselves as set against governments,” according to Krstić. “That is not what any of this work is about. But we do see ourselves as having a duty to defend our users from threats, whether common or in some cases, truly grave.”
The full report can be read here.