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17.2 is coming soon, including some brilliant new features and fixing several pesky bugs.SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Apples iOS 17.1 has only just arrived, but iOS 17.2 is coming soon, and it includes some brilliant new features and fixes several pesky bugs. Among the new features in iOS 17.2 is a very cool update to iMessage, which will be a huge boost to iPhone security.

First unveiled in December last year as part of new iCloud security features and finally appearing in the iOS 17.2 beta now, iMessage Contact Key verification has been a long time coming.

The new iMessage feature in iOS 17.2 prevents attackers from listening to or reading your conversations if theyve managed to breach cloud servers.

If you have Contact Key Verification enabled in iOS 17.2, you will receive a notification if someone is able to eavesdrop on your conversations. As an extra layer of security, the new iPhone feature also allows you to use a Contact Verification Code on FaceTime or in personjust to make sure the person you are speaking to is who they say they are.

Contact Key Verification in iOS 17.2 is designed for people who could be targets for attacks utilizing iPhone malware called spywarewhich can allow adversaries to see everything you write and hear anything you say.

Over the last year or so, Apple has been busy releasing new iPhone features to protect users from spyware attacks as well as patching numerous security holes that could be used in so-called zero click attacks.

However, while it is a security feature akin to the likes of Apples Lockdown setting, Contact Key Verification doesnt reduce your iPhones functionality like Lockdown Mode does, so there is no security-functionality trade off. That makes it more accessible to all security-conscious iPhone users.

With this in mind, Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at ESET, has praised the new iPhone feature. Contact Key Verification works seamlessly without any direct action needed, making it another security-focused feature working tirelessly in the background. Having the ability to use this new iOS 17.2 feature in strict security situations gives users that vital piece of mind that they are conversing with who they think they are.

As AI steps up, offering quality voice cloning techniques and with relatively good deep fakes in the pipeline, this sort of protection is imperative, Moore says.

Apple has described how Contact Key Verification Works in iOS 17.2 in a new technical blog.

Contact Key Verification is designed to detect sophisticated attacks against iMessage servers and allow users to verify that theyre messaging only with whom they intend, Apple says.

The iPhone maker explains how iMessage Contact Key Verification uses a mechanism called Key Transparency. This builds on the ideas of Certificate Transparencyessentially a security standard for monitoring and auditing digital certificates.

Yet as Apple explains, Contact Key Verification uses a verifiable log-backed map data structure, which can provide cryptographic proofs of inclusion and be audited for consistency over time.

These properties allow for higher scalability and better user privacy, Apple says.

Its certainly an exciting new feature, and when it debuts in iOS 17.2, it can be found in your iPhones Settings > your name > Contact Key Verification, where you can toggle it to on. This applies to Beta users as of now.

So when will iOS 17.2 arrive? It looks like the update will be released around November or December, including other new features such as the Journal app, new AirPlay settings for the Apple Vision Pro headset, collaborative Apple music playlists, new weather widgets and enhancements to the Contacts app.

According to Apple-focused site 9to5Mac, iOS 17.2 will also fix the Wi-Fi connectivity issues that have been plaguing some iPhone users since updating to iOS 17.

Its also likely iOS 17.2 will come with a bunch of security fixes, so keep an eye on my Forbes page for updates.

Kate is an award winning and widely-recognized cybersecurity and privacy journalist with well over a decades experience covering the issues that matter to users, businesses and governments. In addition to Forbes, her work can be found in publications including Wired, The Guardian, The Observer, The Times and The Economist.

With a focus on smartphone security including Apple iOS security and privacy, application security, cyberwarfare and data misuse by the big tech firms, Kate reports and analyzes breaking cybersecurity and privacy stories and trending topics.

She is also a recognized industry commentator and has appeared on radio shows including the WVON Morning Show with Attorney Ernest B. Fenton, BBC Radio 5 Live and podcasts such as the Guardians Today in Focus. Kate can be reached atkate.oflaherty@techjournalist.co.uk.

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iOS 17.2Amazing New iPhone Features And Fixes Suddenly Revealed - Forbes