Apple Updates Its Platform Security User Guide

Yesterday, Apple updated its Platform Security User Guide to cover new hardware and software features on its platforms. The guide is broken down into hardware security, system security, encryption and data protection, app security, services security, network security, development kit security, and secure device management sections that cover every aspect of Apple’s platforms.

Many of the latest updates to the guide hinge on aspects of Apple silicon as the introduction to the user guide explains:

Apple continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in security and privacy. This year Apple devices with Apple SoC’s across the product lineup from Apple Watch to iPhone and iPad, and now Mac, utilize custom silicon to power not only efficient computation, but also security. Apple silicon forms the foundation for secure boot, Touch ID and Face ID, and Data Protection, as well as system integrity features never before featured on the Mac including Kernel Integrity Protection, Pointer Authentication Codes, and Fast Permission Restrictions. These integrity features help prevent common attack techniques that target memory, manipulate instructions, and use javascript on the web. They combine to help make sure that even if attacker code somehow executes, the damage it can do is dramatically reduced.

There are new materials spread throughout the guide that add security details about items like the company’s new M1 chips, the boot process of the M1 Macs, the new iOS car key feature, Safari’s password monitoring feature that lets you know when a password you use has been compromised, among many others. To review a full list of what has been added to and changed in the Platform Security User Guide, the guide includes a comprehensive revision history. If you’ve ever wondered about how the security of an Apple platform feature is implemented, the Platform Security User Guide is an excellent place to start your research.