gh0sti 6d ago
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

SCOOP: Apple says it's not aware of anyone using Lockdown Mode getting hacked with spyware, on all kinds of devices.

There have already been a couple of documented cases of Lockdown Mode stopping spyware attacks. And there's been one case where an advanced hacking toolkit was designed to bail out if it detected Lockdown Mode on the target device.

If you're worried about spyware, you should use turn this security feature on.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/27/apple-says-no-one-using-lockdown-mode-has-been-hacked-with-spyware/

Apple says no one using Lockdown Mode has been hacked with spyware | TechCrunch

The tech giant's claim that it has not seen any successful spyware attacks targeting Apple devices with Lockdown Mode enabled comes amid a leak of hacking tools targeting users running devices with older software.

TechCrunch
Mar 27 at 2:33pmWeb
Show threadLorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai3d ago

UPDATE: Google accused North Korean government hackers of being behind the supply chain attack against Axios.

“North Korean hackers have deep experience with supply chain attacks, which they’ve historically used to steal cryptocurrency. The full breadth of this incident is still unclear, but given the popularity of the compromised package, we expect it will have far reaching impacts,” said Google's John Hultquist.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/31/hacker-hijacks-axios-open-source-project-used-by-millions-to-push-malware/

North Korean hackers blamed for hijacking popular Axios open source project to spread malware | TechCrunch

A hacker inserted malware in Axios, an open source web tool downloaded tens of millions of times weekly, in a widespread hack.

TechCrunch
Show threadMark ⛵️🏳️‍🌈Mar 27
@lorenzofb that’s good news for the fortunate people outside the UK - here we’re not trusted with encrypted iCloud and we now have to provide a govt ID to be allowed to use the full functionality of the devices we own 😔🤬
Show threadBucciaMar 27

@lorenzofb Italian activists hacked by the italian government had Android or didn’t have Lockdown Mode enabled, but even if they did, they would have been hacked anyway, because LM doesn’t generally apply to third-party apps.

It helps a bit in third-party apps in case the exploit uses iOS features like image decoding (LM only allows a handful of image formats) but it’s up to apps to detect LM and implement their own protections. I’m not aware of any app checking for LM status.

Show threadLorenzo Musso4d ago
@lorenzofb In your opinion, in terms of privacy and security, is it better to use GrapheneOS (with some messaging app with DCL enabled) or iOS with LM enabled? Also, while is certain that FCM notifications are stored indefinetly, what about Apple?
Show threadLorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai3d ago
@lorenzomoon I don't have the expertise to answer that question definitively. I heard that GrapheneOS is very good at security, so you may be fine with either. My gut instinct is to tell you to go with Apple because it's a much larger company with an elite security team. But maybe that's a reductive argument.
Show threadbrown ☕🍵3d ago
@lorenzofb @fj unfortunately it blocks incoming phone call notifications on the watch, not even every watch, just the Apple Watch.