Privacy is a growing concern in today’s world. Follow along with all our coverage related to privacy, security, what Apple and other companies are doing to keep your information safe, and what steps you can take to keep your information private.
Along with the positive aspects of the new generative AI services come new risks. One that’s surfaced is an advanced approach to cracking passwords called PassGAN. Using the latest AI, it was able to compromise 51% of passwords in under one minute with 71% of passwords cracked in less than a day. Read on for a look at the character thresholds that offer security against AI password cracking, how PassGAN works, and more.
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A research study by Bitdefender revealed that security breaches were covered up by 30% of companies surveyed – and even more IT professionals were put under pressure to keep quiet about them.
This was the case even when there were legal obligations to reveal data breaches to affected customers and regulators …
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Apple remains one of the top-spending companies when it comes to TikTok ads, despite growing controversy about whether the app is a threat to US national security.
A separate report today reveals that the Chinese government engaged in an organized social media campaign to mock US concerns about the app, accusing Congress of technical illiteracy, hypocrisy, and xenophobia …
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With Australia the latest country to act, we’ve now seen TikTok banned from government devices in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Belgium, the European Commission, Australia, and New Zealand …
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Parent company Meta reportedly plans to allow users to opt out of Instagram and Facebook tracking – but only if you live in Europe …
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Whether it’s someone you know, someone you don’t, or just a scam message, unwanted text messages can be a pain. Follow along for how to block texts on iPhone as well as how to report scam messages to Apple and your carrier.
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The Federal Communication Commission announced today its first set of rules designed to reduce the number of scam texts Americans get. The move will require carriers to block texts from three types of numbers plus one more measure which will be a start to tackling the rapidly growing problem.
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A cybersecurity company has revealed that hackers obtained data center logins for Apple and other major companies. They were also able to access surveillance cameras remotely, and the privileges they had could even have allowed physical access to servers.
Hackers gained access to two third-party data center companies used by many major companies, and from there were able to obtain customer support logins for Apple, Amazon, BMW, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and as many as 2,000 other companies …
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After launching Communication Safety in Messages for kids at the end of 2021 in the US, the feature made its way to six more countries in 2022. Now Apple is ready to expand Communication Safety to another six countries soon including the Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil, Japan, and more.
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Tile is out with a new feature for its item trackers that hopes to reduce trouble with both theft and stalking. The company is calling the new feature Anti-Theft Mode and there are several components to it including an unscannable mode, a new $1 million penalty for misuse, ID verification, and more. The changes follow similar ones made by Apple last year. Here’s how the approaches compare.
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iOS 16.3 was released to the general public last month, and among other new features, it also included a variety of security updates. One of those fixes addressed an Apple Maps privacy bug that could have allowed an app to “bypass Privacy preferences.”
In a statement to 9to5Mac on Friday, Apple clarified that iPhone users “were never at risk” because of this vulnerability. The company also refuted a report that said a Brazillian food delivery app was accessing user location without permission in iOS 16.2.
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The infamous TikTok algorithm, which has been accused of taking users into dangerous rabbit holes, could be shared with US officials, says the company. TikTok owner ByteDance is hoping that the offer of transparency will fend off further bans of the Chinese video sharing app.
Not everyone is convinced that the offer goes far enough, however …
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President Biden’s second State of the Union address called on Congress to pass bipartisan legislation on both antitrust and data privacy issues.
His comments on the antitrust issue specifically referenced the need to prevent tech companies favoring their own products, an accusation frequently levelled at Apple …
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In honor of Safer Internet Day, Apple has shared a list of features and tips to provide a more secure and private experience for kids on devices like iPhone and iPad. Along with 8 ways to stay safer, Apple has highlighted its dedicated educational hub for parents and families plus a new free Today at Apple session called “Your Kids and Their Devices.”
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Pegasus spyware journalists Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud were the first to discover an extensive list of specific people being targeted by NSO’s clients. In working on the story, they said they had to take extreme privacy precautions to avoid their own devices being compromised.
One of the major uses of Pegasus has been to silence journalists working on revealing abuses by tyrannical governments, so the risk of their own devices being hacked without their knowledge was very real …
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A member of the Senate Intelligence Committee has called on both Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their respective app stores.
The demand follows growing concerns about the Chinese-owned app, with the video sharing app already banned from US federal government devices, along with those in more than half of US states …
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Anker has admitted that its statements about Eufy security camera encryption were not accurate. The smart home brand had previously stated that all video footage is end-to-end encrypted, but has now admitted there was an exception to this (which it has now fixed).
The company only finally came clean about the privacy breach after The Verge threatened to post a story about the company’s failure to answer its questions …
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An Apple Maps privacy bug fixed in iOS 16.3 may have allowed apps to collect user location data without permission.
At least one app appears to have done so, and a security reporter has speculated that the same privacy bug could have been exploited by countless apps over an unknown time period …
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Pegasus spyware – a zero-click way of remotely hacking an iPhone, and gaining access to all the personal data stored on it – has been defended by the company’s CEO. NSO chief exec said that the company had made “mistakes” in selling it to repressive governments, but claimed that it now sells Pegasus only to countries to whom the US sells weapons.
A security researcher said that the comparison was bogus, stating that a more reasonable comparison would be selling long-range nuclear missiles …
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The number of data breaches in 2022 was slightly down on the previous year, but the number of people whose personal data was exposed by the security failures was significantly higher …
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In honor of Data Privacy Day, Apple has announced a handful of new resources “designed to help users take control of their data.” This year, those initiatives include dedicated privacy-focused “Today at Apple” sessions, a new short film with Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed (Nate the Great), and more.
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A GoTo hack related to the LastPass security breach was far worse than initially disclosed. The company, formerly known as LogMeIn, has revealed that attackers obtained not only encrypted backups of customer data, but also an encryption key for at least some of that data.
It’s a similar tale to the LastPass hack, which followed a similar path from low-key initial announcement to revelations that it was significantly worse than initially feared …
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Apple is facing a third class action privacy lawsuit, after the company was found to be collecting analytics data from iPhone users even after they refused permission.
Apple insists that all developers ask permission to collect analytics data, but security researcher Tommy Mysk discovered last year that the company wasn’t playing by its own rules …
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There have been numerous examples of people losing a lifetime’s worth of photos after being locked out of their iCloud account. The Apple account recovery process often proves impossible, especially in cases where an iPhone has been stolen and its owner forced to unlock it.
Just yesterday there was a fresh example, where an unlocked iPhone was stolen at gunpoint by seemingly tech-savvy thieves …
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