Apple will proxy Safe Browsing requests to hide iOS users IP from Google
Apple s upcoming iOS 14.5 update will come with a new feature that will redirect all fraudulent website checks through its own proxy servers as a workaround to preserve user privacy and prevent leaking IP addresses to Google.
A built-in security-focused feature in the Safari browser, Fraudulent Website Warning, alerts users about dangerous websites that have been reported as deceptive, malicious, or harmful.
To achieve this, Apple relies on Google Safe Browsing or Tencent Safe Browsing for users in Mainland China a blocklist service that provides a list of URLs for web resources that contain malware or phishing content, to compare a hash prefix calculated from the website address and check if the website is fraudulent.
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Apple s forthcoming iOS 14.5 release, currently in beta, will conceal the IP address of Safari web surfers from Google s Safe Browsing service, integrated into Safari to spot fraudulent websites.
On Wednesday, Maciej Stachowiak, head of WebKit engineering at Apple, confirmed the change via Twitter, stating that in the new iOS beta, Safari does indeed proxy the service via Apple servers to limit the risk of information leak.
That means when Safari users visit a website with Safe Browsing active, their IP addresses will be associated with an Apple domain rather than their internet service provider or corporate network. Google would normally have access to this information from those using Safe Browsing-enabled applications, depending on the specific API used, but now won t for mobile Safari users.