security enclave

here are a lot of big upgrades coming with the iPhone 16’s A18 chip,
but there’s one major feature that Apple forgot to tell us about.
According to 9to5Mac, the A18 chipset also features the “Secure
Exclave” which debuted earlier this year on the Apple M4 chip.

The idea behind the Secure Exclave is to improve user privacy, which is
one of the things Apple has been pushing hard the last several years.
This new component handles a feature called Secure Indicator Light
(SIL), which controls the microphone and camera indicator on the
M4-powered iPads.

Microphone and camera indicators have been around since the launch of
iOS 14. The goal was to notify users when either of those things was in
operation. That way users would know if either of these things was
being actively used, and if that wasn’t an intentional act by an app
they were actively using it could indicate that they’re being spied on.
Or at the very least that one or more apps are abusing their
permissions in ways they shouldn’t.

But in the past these indicators were software-based, which could be a
problem if malicious actors figured out a way to bypass the triggers.
But by routing these features through hardware, the security around
those indicators should be a lot more robust.

https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/iphones/iphone-16s-a18-chip-has-a-useful-security-feature-that-debuted-on-apples-m4-chip