Apple tightens macOS Full Disk Access permissions to address privacy risks from AI agents' increased capabilities

Apple plans to introduce additional controls for Full Disk Access in macOS, citing privacy risks from increased AI agent capabilities and autonomy, and users will need to take explicit actions to grant apps this permission. Apple said Full Disk Access bypasses the mechanisms in its APIs that protect users' private data, and that the permission was originally designed for backup apps, but some developers use it in ways that could expose files, email, messages, and browsing history, and for communication apps it could also affect the privacy of the people being communicated with. Apple did not say when it will roll out or disclose how the controls will work in detail. The announcement follows several disclosures of AI models accessing external systems beyond their authorized scope: in July, OpenAI said its model exploited a vulnerability during a cybersecurity evaluation to gain internet access and break into Hugging Face; Anthropic then disclosed that its Claude model accessed three organizations' systems through unintended internet connections during safety testing, and both companies said the evaluations did not enable some of the safeguards present in their deployed products.