Benjamin Mayo

As part of Apple’s continuing quest to raise support for its side of the Apple/FBI iPhone encryption backdoor debate, Craig Federighi has written an opinion piece in The Washington Post. Unsurprisingly, the Apple executive repeats much of the arguments Apple has already made, indicating that hampering security efforts in technology is counterproductive:

To get around Apple’s safeguards, the FBI wants us to create a backdoor in the form of special software that bypasses passcode protections, intentionally creating a vulnerability that would let the government force its way into an iPhone. Once created, this software — which law enforcement has conceded it wants to apply to many iPhones — would become a weakness that hackers and criminals could use to wreak havoc on the privacy and personal safety of us all.

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Update: Version 2.92 of Transmission has now been released. This claims to actively remove the ‘KeyRanger’ malware files from the infected Mac.

OS X users have today been hit with the first known case of Mac ‘ransomware’ malware, found in the Transmission BitTorrent client released last week. Infected versions of the app include ‘KeyRanger’ malware that will maliciously encrypt the user’s hard drive after three days of being installed. The malware then asks for payment to allow the user to decrypt the disk and access their data — the ‘ransom’.

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Although tech companies are joining Apple’s camp en masse for the Apple/FBI court battle due to commence on March 22nd, there are many amicus briefs being posted in favour of the FBI’s argument. One of these was filed last Thursday night by the San Bernardino District Attorney, Michael Ramos. In the document, he claims that the shooter’s iPhone (which the FBI wants Apple to make a backdoor unlock for) could contain evidence that it is a digital weapon — containing a ‘cyber pathogen’ that would exploit San Bernardino infrastructure.

It’s the first time someone has implied what might actually be of interest on the phone. However, whilst the idea of a ‘cyber pathogen’ sounds scary, it really doesn’t make any sense. On his blog, iPhone forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski explains these terms have no technical substance and even if you read between the lines to decipher the comment, it is very difficult to get any sensible meaning whatsoever.

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The Amazon Echo has become somewhat of a hit success, with many users preferring Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant to Apple’s Siri because of faster speech recognition speed, reliability and overall better performance. Amazon is continuing to compete in the voice assistant space with the release of two new products today: the Amazon Tap and Echo Dot.

The new products focus on expanding Amazon’s voice assistant into more rooms of your house as well as on-the-go. It’s an interesting strategy to make Alexa-dedicated devices, whereas Apple currently offers Siri only as a feature of its existing iOS, Apple Watch and Apple TV products.

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Apple has today launched a company Twitter account for help, customer support and iOS tips. Although Apple manages some support accounts for parts of its business, like Apple Music, this is the first time Apple has launched an account that covers its entire product range. @AppleSupport is already verified, confirming its validity as an official Apple support avenue.

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Apple and the FBI are set to start its court battle for the San Bernardino case in a couple of weeks, March 22nd. In support for Apple’s position, over 40 companies, organizations and individuals will file amicus briefs later today to rally against the government order for Apple to compromise its own iPhone security measures. Facebook, Google, Dropbox, Microsoft, Snapchat and more will sign on to briefs in the case, according to sources.

Via The New York Times, support was not immediate. Company execs were initially worried about the consequences on the industry if Apple lost out to the FBI. Bloomberg reports Samsung supports the idea of encryption but will not commit to file an amicus brief for its smartphone rival, the Samsung statement said it remains undecided on its court position …

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Bloomberg hosted a lengthy interview with Apple head lawyer Theodore Olson, to discuss the ongoing FBI vs Apple case in light of the congressional hearing from yesterday. Bloomberg’s Emily Chang quizzes Olson on various aspects of the case and although much of what is said is merely a repeat of what Tim Cook and other Apple representatives have said before, there are a few new tidbits. Olson says there isn’t a middle ground he can foresee between Apple’s staunch privacy position and the data collection wishes of the FBI. Olson was last quoted saying that if the FBI got their way, it would lead to an Orwellian society.

Watch the full fifteen-minute interview below …

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Apple is ramping up security and privacy efforts on all fronts right now, although most attention is currently directed towards the ongoing Apple FBI iPhone backdoor case. Reddit user MaGNeTiX has found that Apple is taking a big step in iOS 9.3 (currently on beta 5) towards transparency when an iOS device is being managed by an institution or enterprise through MDM. If your iPhone is being tracked by the company, it is now clearly marked in the About page of Settings and the Lock Screen. It’s hard to get more clear than a permanent ‘This iPhone is managed by your organisation’ message at the bottom of the screen.

Apple lets companies track and manage iPhones through an MDM deployment program. iOS 9.3 will remove any ambiguity as to whether the company is tracking the device …

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Microsoft is currently running a new series of ads featuring ‘The Bug Chicks’, with each ad directly targeting a weakness in Apple’s Mac operating system. Kristie and Jess, curiously labelled as ‘real people paid for real opinions’, walk through several ways that Windows 10 helps them teach kids about bugs and the microscopic world.

The ad series focuses on several different competitive advantages Windows currently holds over OS X, such as touchscreen-equipped laptops for sketching and drawing, Cortana as a personal voice search assistant and face recognition for hands-free account login. Some of the things Microsoft highlights, like the absence of Siri on OS X are expected to be addressed by Apple later in the year, of course. Watch all four videos after the jump:

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If Apple hasn’t yet made the Ethernet network port on your Mac obsolete by not including it, as is the case with most Macs sold today, then it may have accidentally broke the port last week in an OS X kernel extension update. Many users complained about the issue online: they had randomly found their Macs no longer connecting to the Internet and their Ethernet port simply not working. Apple has now officially acknowledged the problem on its support pages. Luckily, the software problem isn’t permanent and the bug can, usually, be easily resolved.

Apple has already fixed the Ethernet software problem for users going forward. Here’s the fix if you were affected …

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Well-sourced Re/code is indicating that Apple’s media event and keynote announcement for spring will be held in the week of March 21st. In an independent report by Buzzfeed, John Paczkowski reports that the event will take place on March 21st itself and will be a ‘smaller scale event’, suggesting it will take place in Cupertino on Apple’s campus. The reason for the event’s delay, given Apple initially planned for a March 15th event, is also unclear. Too much executive time spent with the FBI? Maybe!

Korean media site underkg.co.kr suggested the delayed date earlier in the week, although the report was generally ignored given the unknown provenance. In contrast, Re/code has a far better track record with Apple reporting.

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In a research note for investors, KGI Securities has posted some interesting claims about the new 4 inch ‘iPhone SE’ coming from Apple in March, as reported by 9to5Mac. The iPhone SE is expected to be very similar to the iPhone 5s in appearance with slightly curved edges, but feature the latest processor internals, an A9 chip just like the iPhone 6s as well as Apple Pay and Live Photos.

KGI claims the phone will also feature a 12 megapixel camera, matching the latest iPhones in megapixels. KGI also believes the new 4 inch iPhone to sell between $400-$500 range. This would be a significantly cheaper phone than the current lineup: the year-old iPhone 6 starts at $549 …

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Somewhat out of the blue, Apple has released a minor software update for the third-generation Apple TV. This is technically listed as iOS 7.2.1, the same version number as the previous public Apple TV operating system. However, the build number has been bumped up, indicating Apple has rolled in some minor bug fixes and improvements.

The update comes as a welcome surprise for third-generation Apple TV owners, who had felt somewhat abandoned ever since Apple released the brand-new tvOS-based Apple TV 4 last fall. The change in build number only means that it is unlikely for the update to include major new features.. Nevertheless, let us know in the comments if you notice any changes with the new update.

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In a conference call with reporters last week, an Apple exec said it was reasonable to expect the company to continue strengthening the security policies of its products in light of the Apple/FBI battle.

In complementary reports today, The New York Times and Financial Times are detailing that Apple engineers are now actively developing new encryption methods for iCloud backups and iPhone hardware, so that Apple couldn’t even hack itself … if it was asked to again like in San Bernardino iPhone backdoor/unlock case.

Not only would this counter the orders by the FBI in the current court case for future iPhone owners, it would also close a security hole in iCloud backups that various law enforcement institutions have exploited thousands of times before …

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Fabric, a subsidiary of Twitter, has today expanded its comprehensive platform for developers by releasing an iPhone app, Fabric for iPhone. The app lets developers monitor various analytics and diagnostics about their applications while on the go. Stats like current active users and crash rates are instantly visible from the dashboard.

Most notably, the app features push notifications for realtime updates about major issues. For instance, developers will get a push alert if their app suddenly starts crashing for a new reason.

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Apple has added several new channels and cable internet services onto the new Apple TV universal search and Siri search today, following the addition of Fox and National Geographic earlier in the month. Today’s enhancements brings Watch ABC, Disney Channel, Disney Jr and Disney X.D into the mix allowing users to quickly search across these services in the Apple TV UI. As shown in the screenshot, Modern Family now lists ABC as a viewing option alongside Netflix, iTunes and Hulu. Selecting Watch ABC takes the user directly to the app with the show ready to watch.

Unfortunately, international Apple TV users continue to be left in the dark regarding ‘universal’ search. Outside of the US, a handful of countries get iTunes + Netflix integration in search results … the remainder only get iTunes.

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Obtained via Buzzfeed, Apple CEO Tim Cook has sent a memo this morning to employees reaffirming its position against the government in the Apple/FBI iPhone backdoor case. He thanks Apple employees and feedback from customers for their public support and says that whilst Apple has no sympathy for terrorists, the data security of hundreds of millions of law-abiding citizens is threatened by the government order.

Apple wants the government to withdraw its demands justified by the All Writs Act and encourages an open discussion between law enforcement, technology and privacy experts on privacy issues. In addition, Apple has posted an expanded question and answers page as a followup to Tim Cook’s original open letter to better inform the public of the situation.

In the memo, Cook openly notes that it does not feel right to be fighting against the government when defending constitutional liberties and freedoms.

Apple is a uniquely American company. It does not feel right to be on the opposite side of the government in a case centering on the freedoms and liberties that government is meant to protect.

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