Apple details how customer data is protected in new Platform Security guide

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Apple’s latest Platform Security guide reveals, in a human way, all of the elements related to security and privacy for its customers.

The new guide includes not just software, but also hardware, including elements like the Security Enclave, secure booting, biometric security elements, and more. And while Apple made sure that it’s digestible, it’s not short: at 157 pages it might take some time to get through, if you were so inclined to actually read through it all.

But this is an overview of Apple’s entire ecosystem, and how security technologies are implemented across the hardware and software of Apple-branded products. And while it’s primarily meant for consumers, it doesn’t leave out other businesses, either. The guide is meant to showcase how the company’s platform security technology can be used to meet other companies’ own security needs.

Every Apple device combines hardware, software, and services designed to work together for maximum security and a transparent user experience in service of the ultimate goal of keeping personal information safe. Custom security hardware powers critical security features. Software protections work to keep the operating system and third-party apps safe. Services provide a mechanism for secure and timely software updates, power a safer app ecosystem, secure communications and payments, and provide a safer experience on the Internet. Apple devices protect not only the device and its data, but the entire ecosystem, including everything users do locally, on networks, and with key Internet services.

Just as we design our products to be simple, intuitive, and capable, we design them to be secure. Key security features, such as hardware-based device encryption, canʼt be disabled by mistake. Other features, such as Touch ID and Face ID, enhance the user experience by making it simpler and more intuitive to secure the device. And because many of these features are enabled by default, users or IT departments donʼt need to perform extensive configurations.

If you are curious about a certain aspect of Apple’s security efforts, you can probably find it in the easily identifiable topic sections, including: Security Certifications and Programs, Developer Kits, Network Security, Secure Device Management, Hardware Security and Biometrics, and others.

It’s important that while Apple has published the content to begin with, that it’s actually digestible beyond security researchers and experts. It goes to show that Apple wants to make it possible for all of its customers to understand how important user privacy and security are to the company.

The question is: do you trust Apple will all of that?