Apple has introduced a new sandbox security system called ‘BlastDoor’ for the iPad and iPhone. The system blocks potential attacks done in the Messages app to keep iOS 14 users safe.
BlastDoor is described as a sandbox service that parses through ‘untrusted’ Messages data. It executes commands separately from the device’s OS and works within Messages. More specifically, BlastDoor checks all incoming messages and looks at the content in a ‘secure’ environment so malicious codes are isolated and can be removed easily, all without exposing user data.
BlastDoor was introduced to stop specific Messages app attacks and makes the iMessage app more secure. It was delivered after an incident where Al Jazeera journalists were hacked, and discovered when devices that had iOS 14 were resistant to the attempt.
A blog post by Project Zero security researcher Samuel Grob revealed that the iMessage security in iOS 14 has three components- exponential throttling, shared cache resliding and the BlastDoor service.