Apple · Wired
Apple Will Push Out Rare ‘Backported’ Patches to Protect iOS 18 Users From DarkSword Hacking Tool
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When it comes to iOS, Apple has largely maintained a take-it-or-leave-it approach to security updates.
Key facts
- But the new patch push is designed to specifically protect vulnerable iOS 18 users who have so far resisted updating to iOS 26
- Apple’s move to allow iOS 18 users to patch their devices without updating to its latest operating system version—a practice of protecting an older operating system version that the cybersecurity
- Tomorrow we are enabling the availability of an iOS 18 update for more devices so users with auto-update enabled can automatically receive important security protections,” an Apple spokesperson
- Criticism of Apple's lack of backported patches for iOS 18 had grown over the past two weeks, as DarkSword proliferated among hacker groups that have used the tool for everything from espionage
Summary
Now, however, the appearance of not one but two sophisticated, in-the-wild iPhone hacking techniques in a single month—and some iPhone owners’ distaste for the look and feel of the latest version of iOS —may have finally shifted Apple’s patching policy. An Apple spokesperson tells WIRED that the company will issue software updates on Wednesday morning to protect iOS users from a hacking technique known as DarkSword, which is capable of silently taking over certain iPhones running iOS 18—the previous version of Apple’s mobile operating system—when they visit a website infected with the malicious code. Apple’s move to allow iOS 18 users to patch their devices without updating to its latest operating system version—a practice of protecting an older operating system version that the cybersecurity industry calls “backporting” a patch—marks a surprising pivot for Apple.