The newly added functions of Apple’s smartphone system (OS) in the United States caused an uproar. The new feature is to anonymize IP addresses for the purpose of protecting privacy. If abused, it is difficult to identify and track criminals. It may hinder the strengthening of countermeasures against financial crimes such as improper transactions and money laundering chains (fund laundering).
What is striking is the privacy function on the OS iOS 15 that Apple started to release in September. Smartphone use after opening Private Transfer (Private Relay) privacy protection on the setting screen Safari browser browse the Web, the IP address will be anonymized, financial institutions can not grasp the IP address when customers visit the website, It’s hard to see fake or illegal transactions.
Apple interprets this feature as completely implementing who you are and which website you have visited, a privacy protection mechanism that no one, including Apple, knows about. It is also difficult to track in the event of a crime.
A Japanese company that provides illegal activity monitoring and management services to financial institutions conducted a survey. The survey showed that the private transfer usage rate of the company’s client companies when logging in was only about 0.12% in mid-December. Although it hasn’t had a big impact, the survey shows that only about 20% of users who upgrade to iOS 15 will continue to increase the impact with the version upgrade of OS users in the future.
Financial institutions are currently observing the situation. A large bank stated that because there are still very few users, it will discuss corresponding countermeasures as needed while paying attention to the spread of services. According to the aforementioned investigative company, financial institutions and companies are already discussing measures to strengthen surveillance and restrain the use of this type of (anonymized IP address) terminal phones.
According to a survey conducted by the consulting firm Ang, the iOS market share of mobile terminals such as smartphones (as of October 21) is 58% in the United States, 55% in the United Kingdom, and even higher in Japan, at 67%, and 28% in the world. . The impact of the new features is relatively large.
The mechanism by which users can judge how third-parties use data is rapidly expanding in the government and the private sector. At the same time, calls for strengthening personal privacy functions and the trade-off of criminal countermeasures have once again surfaced. Of course, protecting personal privacy is very important, but it also breeds the trouble of difficulty in obtaining criminal information.
Platforms owned by tech giants such as Apple and Google are evolving into infrastructure. The trend that only one functional change will have a huge impact on the entire social system is intensifying. Even if financial institutions are only required to strengthen management measures, there is a limit to plugging loopholes. Worldwide, the need for governments and industry groups to work together to deal with technology giants is increasing.