New By Uttarakhand Sandesh 2021-02-19

Apple Updates Platform Security Guide to Highlight Changes Coming With M1 Chip

Apple today updated its Platform Security Guide to highlight the key security changes it has implemented on its products, including the iPhone, iPad, and the Mac. The updated document is the biggest ever — nearly a 200-page comprehensive technical guide — detailing the features Apple uses to protect user devices and data across all platforms. One of the changes that the latest revision brings to Apple's Platform Security Guide is the addition of all the major security changes available through Apple M1 chip that was introduced last year. The updated Platform Security Guide by Apple has been revised over 10 months after its last update. It covers iOS 14.3, iPadOS 14.3, macOS Big Sur 11.1, tvOS 14.3, and watchOS 7.2. Apple has added 11 new topics to its latest Platform Security Guide that mostly cover key security changes available to Mac users through its native silicon: the Apple M1. The guide covers security elements that are in place to provide a secure boot process on the new Mac machines. It also talks about the authorisation requirements for enabling kernel extensions on Apple computers based on the M1 chip. However, security researcher Patrick Wardle recently suggested that the Apple M1 Mac machines are also not fully secured and require some fixes that could come through a future software update. In addition to the Apple M1 chipset, the updated Platform Security Guide mentions the security changes available to the iPhone and iPad through iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 updates. These include the iBoot implementation that is limited to iPhones based on Apple A13 Bionic and later, and iPads running on the A14 Bionic chip.