Apple brought a number of countermeasure to prevent attacks with iOS 14.4 update, such as the introduction of a sandboxed 'BlastDoor' feature for the parsing of untrusted data in iMessage.

Now, the company has gone a bit harder on the bad actors, with iOS 14.5 update, which will introduce fraudulent website check for Safari browser, which also passes traffic through its own proxy servers to prevent leaking of IP addresses and protect users' privacy.

The "Fraudulent Website Warning" feature will alert users about any dangerous website that have been previously blacklisted or reported as malicious, deceptive, or harmful.

How the Safari browser Fraudulent Website Alert will work?



Apple will rely on Google Safe Browsing, which is a blacklist service that offers a list of web resources that contain malicious or phishing content, against a hash prefix calculated from the addresses and checked for fraudulent activities.



The database will then prompt Safari browser to request for the full list of URLs that correspond to the hashed prefix, and subsequently, block access to the site with a warning to the user. While this approach will ensure that the actual website the user is trying to visit is never shared with the safe browsing provider, but it will definitely leak the IP address of the device.

Albeit, Safari will proxy the Fraudulent Website Alert service through Apple servers to limit the risk of information leak.

Additional Privacy measures that Apple will be rolling out



Apple will also require that apps request for users' permission before tracking them in iOS 14.5 and websites using the device's ad identifier as part of App Tracking Transparency.

The new anti-tracking features has been seen as a big hit in the ad revenue generated by internet marketers and those that rely on cross-device user tracking and the resulting ad revenue generation to continue their offering of free services.

Fraudulent Website Alert coming to Safari browser with iOS 14.5 update

Apple brought a number of countermeasure to prevent attacks with iOS 14.4 update, such as the introduction of a sandboxed 'BlastDoor' feature for the parsing of untrusted data in iMessage.

Now, the company has gone a bit harder on the bad actors, with iOS 14.5 update, which will introduce fraudulent website check for Safari browser, which also passes traffic through its own proxy servers to prevent leaking of IP addresses and protect users' privacy.

The "Fraudulent Website Warning" feature will alert users about any dangerous website that have been previously blacklisted or reported as malicious, deceptive, or harmful.

How the Safari browser Fraudulent Website Alert will work?



Apple will rely on Google Safe Browsing, which is a blacklist service that offers a list of web resources that contain malicious or phishing content, against a hash prefix calculated from the addresses and checked for fraudulent activities.



The database will then prompt Safari browser to request for the full list of URLs that correspond to the hashed prefix, and subsequently, block access to the site with a warning to the user. While this approach will ensure that the actual website the user is trying to visit is never shared with the safe browsing provider, but it will definitely leak the IP address of the device.

Albeit, Safari will proxy the Fraudulent Website Alert service through Apple servers to limit the risk of information leak.

Additional Privacy measures that Apple will be rolling out



Apple will also require that apps request for users' permission before tracking them in iOS 14.5 and websites using the device's ad identifier as part of App Tracking Transparency.

The new anti-tracking features has been seen as a big hit in the ad revenue generated by internet marketers and those that rely on cross-device user tracking and the resulting ad revenue generation to continue their offering of free services.

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