Apple’s iOS 27 is coming soon, with a bunch of new features and capabilities that will help boost your security and privacy. One of the most interesting and useful of these could be a new iOS 27 framework that helps apps detect when people are being scammed and alert them in real time.
That’s according to Apple-focused publication 9to5Mac, which describes how in iOS 27, Apple has created what it calls a Trust Insights framework to help apps fight back against social engineering attempts as they happen. This could be across multiple channels such as voice, text messages and emails.
In iOS 27, Trust Insights will use AI to alert apps when a person could be falling victim to a scam. Apple says these sorts of scams are more difficult to detect automatically because the victim is often the one carrying out the actions “authenticated and legitimately.”
In a developer video showcasing the new iOS 27 framework, the iPhone maker describes how it uses “privacy-preserving machine learning to detect when someone may be coached into risky actions.”
Developers will be able to integrate Trust Insights into their apps, interpret its signals, and design thoughtful interventions that safeguard people while respecting their privacy, Apple said.
New iOS 27 Framework Arrives As Risk Of AI Fraud Grows
The new iOS 27 framework comes as fraud becomes increasingly common, fuelled further by the ability to use AI to create deep fakes and other convincing scams.
The framework runs mostly on-device, analyzing “interaction patterns, timing, context, and basic sensor data.”
Among its capabilities, Trust Insights can assign what it detects to be a scam a medium or high risk level. To the user, this will appear as in-app warnings, delays, or additional verification steps.
Most scams rely on manipulating people into making the wrong decision, so the iOS 27 framework is “an excellent and positive use of AI”, says Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at ESET. “People often don’t immediately recognise the behavioural signs of a scammer so this iOS 27 feature could be a game changer for how victims respond to such messages.”
Yet Moore warns that Apple will need to get the feature right and make it clear to users for it to be effective. “Being able to stop scam payments without reading the contents of your messages or emails is also extremely encouraging, but the challenge will be the accuracy of the design,” Moore says.
For example too many false positives could cause people to ignore or bypass scam warnings, he says.
While AI can be used by cybercriminals to make scams more realistic, defenders are increasingly using AI-enabled tools to fight back. The iOS 27 framework aims to do just that, and if it works, it could certainly be a game-changer.