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.
iOS 17.4.1 and macOS 14.4.1 have arrived for all users after the major iOS 17.4/macOS 14.4 updates. Now Apple has revealed what important security patches come with the latest updates for iPhone, Mac, and more.
Expand Expanding Close
University researchers have found an unpatchable security flaw in Apple Silicon Macs, which would allow an attacker to break encryption and get access to cryptographic keys.
The flaw is present in M1, M2, and M3 chips, and because the failing is part of the architecture of the chips, there’s no way for Apple to fix it in current devices …
Expand Expanding Close
ExpressVPN has been making impressive moves in the hardware space since the introduction of the Aircove router in 2022. Today, the popular virtual private network provider is expanding its lineup by launching its first portable Wi-Fi 6 router with built-in VPN protection. Meet Aircove Go.
Expand Expanding Close
We learned with the public launch of iOS 17.4 that Apple included fixes for two exploited vulnerabilities and two other security issues. Now with the arrival of macOS 14.4, there are over 50 security patches and the list of security fixes for iOS 17.4 has been updated to over 40.
Expand Expanding Close
Regain clarity with CleanMyPhone by MacPaw — the new AI-powered cleaning app that quickly identifies and removes blurred images, screenshots, and other clutter from your device. Download it now with a free trial.
X audio and video calls started rolling out last year, in a feature nobody appeared to ask for and few seem to want. We previously shared how to deactivate the feature, and now it seems there’s another reason to do so …
Expand Expanding Close
The Android and iPhone spyware company NSO has suffered a major defeat in a US court, after a judge ruled that the company must hand over its Pegasus code to Meta.
It’s the latest setback for the company, which has been blacklisted in the US, sued by Apple, seen victims alerted by the iPhone maker, and faced severe financial problems …
Expand Expanding Close
Consumer Reports found that some Amazon’s Choice video bells have security so bad that a complete stranger can pair their phone to your doorbell simply by holding the exterior button for eight seconds.
Bad actors can even access still images from thousands of miles away, without needing any credentials for your account, creating a privacy nightmare …
Expand Expanding Close
Hey, Arin here. Last week was the busiest for security so far this year. We saw an unprecedented offensive on the LockBit ransomware gang; Apple moved to make iMessage future-proof with quantum computer protection, and the topic of this week, Jamf’s new report highlighting some alarming statistics around Apple-using businesses. So, grab your drink of choice. Let’s get into 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.
When Apple announced its own approach to CSAM scanning, many of us warned that the process used to check for child sexual abuse materials would ultimately be abused by repressive governments to scan for things like political protest plans.
The Cupertino company rejected that reasoning at the time, but in an ironic twist is now using precisely this argument in response to the Australian government …
Expand Expanding Close
A Wyze camera breach allowed some 13,000 customers view footage from other people’s homes. The company had originally said that the serious privacy and security breach had only happened for 14 people.
Wyze says that most of these customers only saw a thumbnail, but that more than 1,500 users saw either a full-size still or a video recording of an event …
Expand Expanding Close
Last week, Apple finally released an in-depth Vision Pro and visionOS data privacy overview. While it was arguably something that the company could’ve been available at launch, it helps explain what precisely the spatial computer collects from our surroundings and sends to third-party applications, and more…
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.
The ability to sync passwords and bookmarks between devices is a core feature of most browsers, but not something DuckDuckGo supported until today.
Safari lets you do this using your Apple ID, and Chrome via your Google account – but that’s not an approach DuckDuckGo wanted to take. The privacy-first company said that it was focused on creating an entirely private way to do this, with no account needed …
Expand Expanding Close
A number of large US companies are using AI monitoring systems to analyse employee communications in popular business apps like Slack, Teams, and Zoom …
Expand Expanding Close
Last week on Security Bite, I discussed a vulnerability in Stolen Device Protection, a newly added security feature in iOS 17.3. Vision Pro has since hit the market and has been dominating the headlines. This Sunday, I wanted to give your feed fresh air and discuss some of my favorite security and privacy features as of iOS 17.3. Admittedly, this will also give me more time to poke around at Vision Pro’s privacy and security protections in the real world.
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.
Sources indicate Apple plans to acquire Brighter AI, a German AI startup specializing in anonymizing face and license plate data. Apple aims to use this acquisition to enhance privacy features on Apple Vision Pro, 9to5Mac is told. Apple may be considering Brighter AI’s technology to minimize the risk of Apple Vision Pro capturing identifiable information in videos or photos taken in public.
Expand Expanding Close
Proposed amendments to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) which could ban Apple security updates worldwide are an “unprecedented overreach,” says the Cupertino company.
Apple previously described the planned powers as “a serious and direct threat to data security and information privacy” – not just to British citizens, but to all tech users worldwide …
Expand Expanding Close
Last week, Apple released iOS 17.3 with a new security feature called Stolen Device Protection, which aims to help protect your data in case a thief has stolen your iPhone and obtained the password. However, there’s one flaw that you should be aware of…
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.
A letter to the US Director of National Intelligence reveals that the NSA buys personal data which was illegally-obtained from smartphone users through the apps they use.
The open letter was sent by US senator and member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, Ron Wyden. He asks US security services to cease this practice, and to purge existing data which was obtained illegally …
Expand Expanding Close
Both in-app ads and push notifications are being used to identify and spy on iPhone users, according to two separate reports.
The first says that in-app ads are being used to gather data intended to identify your iPhone and send highly sensitive data to security services, while the second found that apps like Facebook and TikTok are using a vulnerability in the way push notifications are handled by iOS to obtain the data for their own use …
Expand Expanding Close
A reported Trello data breach has seen the personal details of more than 15 million users put up for sale on the dark web.
A separate Loan Depot ransomware attack resulted in more than 16 million customer accounts compromised, taking a number of the company’s web services offline …
Expand Expanding Close
An important new security feature for iPhone has arrived with iOS 17.3 that gives you protection in the event your device is stolen. Follow along for how to turn on iPhone Stolen Device Protection and also some advice on whether or not you should use the feature.
Expand Expanding Close
Instagram and Facebook collect your data from thousands of companies, according to an experiment carried out by Consumer Reports.
Separately, the company is the largest reporter of potential child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), but there is a legal problem with the way many of these reports are submitted …
Expand Expanding Close
The security vulnerability which seemingly led to an AirDrop crack by a Chinese state institute has been known to Apple since at least 2019, according to a new report.
Some new details are also emerging about how China is able to obtain the phone numbers and email addresses of people transferring files via AirDrop …
Expand Expanding Close
In a significant breach of Apple’s privacy measures, a new report says that AirDrop was cracked by the Chinese government, to reveal the phone number and email address of senders.
The anonymity of AirDrop was one of the reasons it has been commonly used by activists to share information about protests, and other information censored by the government …
Expand Expanding Close