Dive Brief:
-
Apple confirmed Thursday that the kernel in iOS 10 is unencrypted, Fortune reported.
-
iOS 10 was announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month and opened to developers soon after. Some of those developers reported earlier this week that they had discovered the lack of iOS encryption.
-
Apple has encrypted the kernels of its previous operating systems.
Dive Insight:
An Apple spokesperson told Fortune that Apple intentionally left the kernel of the new OS open “to optimize the operating system’s performance without compromising security.”
While protecting the kernel from hackers would appear to be a smart move, opening it up to the developers that are currently testing the new OS may actually help Apple find and patch potential vulnerabilities before iOS 10 becomes publicly available in the fall.
Mobile operating systems have been the target of a growing number of attacks over the last year. Last August, an Android security gap made it possible for hackers to attack Android phones simply by sending a text message. Zimperium estimated that 95% of Android users across the globe were subject to the vulnerability, dubbed Stagefright.
