Apple Safeguards iOS 14 from Google's Intrusive surveillance
If you're a regular Safari user, you're probably familiar with its "Fraudulent Website Warning." This feature alerts you when the site you're about to visit might be a potential threat, like an elaborate phishing scam. Interestingly, until recently, this safety feature relied on Google's obscure database for operation. However, with the upcoming privacy features in iOS 14, Apple is breaking away from this reliance.
The change was first noticed on Reddit, where screenshots of the iOS 14.5 beta showed Apple using its own servers as a middleman between your phone and Google's databases. It appears that any web traffic on Safari now makes a stop at a new URL—"proxy.safebrowsing.apple"—before reaching Google's services.
The Google Safe Browsing database is essentially a constantly updated list of scammy or unsafe websites. Non-Google apps, like Safari, can connect to Google's servers and receive a list of prefixes from these sites. Any clicks then ping Google's servers to check if the web address being visited matches any of the listed names. If it does, a warning flag is raised.
However, as a privacy-focused company, Apple has been working to put data protection at the core of its iOS 14 updates. Pinging Google's servers, even if the addresses are hashed, might not expose much data beyond your IP address or other "unidentifiable data." But, data is still data, and it's still being sent to Google.
Apple's WebKit engineering head confirmed that Apple's move to intercept this traffic is an attempt to "limit the risk of information leak." In simpler terms, it's a measure to keep Google from accessing any user data, no matter how innocuous the reason might seem.
While the iOS 14 update does not explicitly mention changes to how Google's Safe Browsing database is used in Safari, it does enhance various security features to protect users from malicious websites. Improvements include better Private Browsing, sandboxing, and WebKit enhancements. While these updates improve overall security and privacy, the specifics about the Safe Browsing database integration are not provided in the available documentation.
- With Apple's shift in iOS 14, Safari now routinely stops at a new URL, "proxy.safebrowsing.apple," before connecting to Google's Safe Browsing databases.
- The tech giant aims to provide enhanced protections by intercepting web traffic, limiting the risk of unidentifiable data being sent to Google's servers.
- Regular Safari users may appreciate the future updates, as Apple regularly improves its safety features, such as Private Browsing, sandboxing, and WebKit enhancements.
- Although the specifics about how the Safe Browsing database integration operates within the new Safari setup remain unclear, the overall intention is to ensure more robust protections against unidentifiable threats.
