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.
Meta has admitted to scraping all public Facebook and Instagram posts made since 2007 in order to train its generative AI model, adding to the privacy contrast with Apple Intelligence.
While the admission was made during a public enquiry in Australia, the company’s statement applies globally …
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The privacy implications of Notification Center popups are well-known in the security forensics community. Whether a user likes it or not, macOS temporarily keeps a log of every notification received in a single plaintext database. This can include messages from applications like iMessage, Slack, Teams, and virtually anything else.
However, it now appears Apple has moved the Notification Center database in macOS Sequoia to address concerns.
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Hard as it may be to imagine, the massive data leak – which appears to include the personal data of everyone in the US, UK, and Canada – was even worse than we thought.
In a truly epic security fail, the same data was hosted by a partner company which managed to publish its own passwords, enabling absolutely anyone to access the data …
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9to5Mac Security Bite is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Making Apple devices work-ready and enterprise-safe is all we do. Our unique integrated approach to management and security combines state-of-the-art Apple-specific security solutions for fully automated Hardening & Compliance, Next Generation EDR, AI-powered Zero Trust, and exclusive Privilege Management with the most powerful and modern Apple MDM on the market. The result is a totally automated Apple Unified Platform currently trusted by over 45,000 organizations to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.
When Apple unveiled iOS 18 earlier this summer, I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of significant new security and privacy features. I still feel that way to some extent. However, after running the iOS 18 beta for over a month now, I want to highlight some of my favorite and noteworthy features. So, here’s my ranking in ascending order. If your #1 favorite is different, comment it below, and I’ll tell you why you’re wrong 😉
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T-Mobile has been fined $60M for failing to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data, and for further failing to report the failure.
Unusually, the fine was levied by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), and is the largest fine it has ever issued …
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A massive data leak of some 2.7 billion records may include sensitive personal data for every person in the US, UK, and Canada. For the US, the data includes social security numbers.
The data is said to have come from a company known as National Public Data, which collects and sells personal data for use in background checks by private investigators and others …
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A new regime of repeating macOS Sequoia permission prompts have been described as “a subscription you didn’t buy and can’t cancel.”
An Apple ad once made fun of the endless stream of permission requests in Windows Vista, but some are suggesting that Sequoia is now every bit as bad …
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The latest version of ChatGPT has been described as “a data hoover on steroids” as a result of its new capabilities (like seeing everything happening on your screen) and extremely loose privacy policy.
While Apple Intelligence will use ChatGPT as a fallback option for queries which cannot be answered by the new Siri, Apple has put in place additional safeguards which will likely make it the safest way to use the chatbot …
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A federal court has ruled that US Customs and Border Protection agents cannot search smartphones without a warrant.
The ruling didn’t actually help the defendant who brought the case, and only applies to the Eastern District of New York where the case was brought, but may help set a privacy precedent …
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Heads up! Elon Musk’s social platform X (formerly Twitter) has quietly added an opt-out toggle to keep its AI chatbot Grok from data scraping your posts, as well as any interactions you have with it. The setting to allow data for training is enabled by default and buried only within the web version of X. Here’s how to find it…
9to5Mac Security Bite is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Making Apple devices work-ready and enterprise-safe is all we do. Our unique integrated approach to management and security combines state-of-the-art Apple-specific security solutions for fully automated Hardening & Compliance, Next Generation EDR, AI-powered Zero Trust, and exclusive Privilege Management with the most powerful and modern Apple MDM on the market. The result is a totally automated Apple Unified Platform currently trusted by over 45,000 organizations to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.
Privacy is a major part of Apple’s aim to distinguish its AI efforts from its competition. So when Apple Intelligence debuts later this year, it will emphasize on-device processing, plus boast features like Private Cloud Compute and key protections in its ChatGPT integration.
In a new interview, two members of Apple’s privacy team speak at length about what to expect from Apple’s privacy initiatives this year.
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The Apple CSAM controversy doesn’t appear to be going away, as a British children’s charity accused the company of under-reporting incidents on its platforms.
However, the report appears to be based at least in part on a failure to understand how end-to-end encryption works …
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A report on J.D. Vance, Trump’s pick for the VP ticket, is the latest pointer to a continuing privacy fail in which Venmo connections and transactions are public by default …
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Leaked documents reveal that Cellebrite can’t unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4 and later, at least as of the date of publication (April 2024). The company has confirmed that the documents are genuine.
Cellebrite devices, which are widely used by law enforcement agencies, can crack most Android phones, though there are exceptions …
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Apple isn’t the only company preferring a privacy-respecting on-device approach to artificial intelligence: Tinder AI processing will use the same approach to pick your most attractive photos for use in the dating app …
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More details are coming to light about the AT&T hack, which saw the personal data of around 110M customers compromised – including records of who they called and texted.
It’s reported that the carrier made a Bitcoin ransom payment in return for the hacker deleting the data, and that public disclosure of the security breach was delayed for two months in response to a request from the FBI …
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A long-standing Signal encryption key vulnerability in the company’s desktop apps is finally being fixed. The fix will fully secure the Mac app, but the company will only be able to offer a compromise solution for the Windows version …
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A massive AT&T data breach has seen hackers able to steal the personal data of almost every customer the company has – a total of some 110 million Americans.
In an incredible security fail, the stolen data includes not only customer phone numbers, but also records of who contacted whom – a potential privacy minefield …
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Apple has warned a significant number of iPhone users across 98 countries that they appear to have been targeted by “mercenary spyware attacks” which could compromise almost all the personal data on their devices.
The company says it can never be 100% certain in its conclusions, but has a high degree of confidence that it is correct, and urges message recipients to take the security warning seriously …
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A previously unreported lawsuit regarding hidden cameras in Airbnb properties reveals that the company generated 35,000 support tickets by customers complaining about surveillance devices …
See company response at the end
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Scams like phishing and social engineering are continuing to grow with some specifically targeting Apple users. With that in mind, Apple has shared a new support document with official tips on how to protect your Apple ID and other online accounts, how to spot and report scam emails, calls, and more.
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Apple Intelligence privacy is stronger than that of any other AI company, but even its security protections aren’t perfect once ChatGPT gets involved.
That’s the argument made by the security chief at Inrupt, the privacy-focused company co-founded by the inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee …
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An attacker has obtained the phone numbers of 33 million users of the popular 2FA security app Authy, exposing them to an increased risk of phishing attacks.
Developer Twilio has confirmed the claim, and asked customers to take two precautions …
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Some Wise customer data was likely to have been obtained by the hackers behind the Evolve data breach back in May.
Multiple additional fintech firms may also be affected by the cybersecurity attack, and it’s possible that personal data may be leaked if companies refuse to give in to ransom demands …
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