Overview

• MIE debuts on iPhone 17 and iPhone Air as a hardware‑supported, always‑on defense targeting memory‑based spyware attacks.
• Apple’s design combines secure allocators, an Enhanced Memory Tagging Extension in synchronous mode, and Tag Confidentiality Enforcement to terminate processes on misuse.
• Coverage spans the iOS kernel and more than 70 system processes, with EMTE testing and integration available to developers through Xcode.
• A19 and A19 Pro silicon dedicate resources for secure tag storage and real‑time checks, which Apple says maintain performance during continuous verification.
• Apple reports five years of internal testing where researchers could not reconstruct known exploit chains, and experts praise the approach while noting attackers may adapt and older devices lack the new hardware.