Digital security can often feel out of our control and painstakingly difficult to manage. 1Password already helps by making it possible to create strong, unique passwords, and new integration with ‘Pwned Passwords’ helps inform users about passwords that may have been compromised in a data breach.
Intel reportedly did not disclose Meltdown or Spectre security flaws to U.S. cyber security officials after being notified of the flaws because hackers had not exploited the vulnerabilities yet, Reuters reports.
The company did not disclose the information to the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, better known as US-CERT, until January 3. This was after the details of the vulnerabilities had leaked online.
Facebook is rolling out a new security feature called Protect to many users of its iOS app. While the name might make unknowing users feel good about installing the associated free app, the Facebook owned VPN is designed to collect and analyze user data to “improve Facebook products and services.”
Apple has shot down the significance of an apparent source code leak for the iPhone’s iBoot bootloader which loads the operating system. The original report flagged the source code leak as the ‘biggest leak in history’ based on one researcher’s description, but Apple has significantly downplayed any risks associated with the leak while seemingly confirming its authenticity.
The locations and layouts of U.S. military bases in countries like Syria and Afghanistan have been revealed by Strava heatmaps …
Update: FCC chairman Ajit Pai has issued a statement strongly opposing the idea.
I oppose any proposal for the federal government to build and operate a nationwide 5G network. The main lesson to draw from the wireless sector’s development over the past three decades—including American leadership in 4G—is that the market, not government, is best positioned to drive innovation and investment. What government can and should do is to push spectrum into the commercial marketplace and set rules that encourage the private sector to develop and deploy next-generation infrastructure. Any federal effort to construct a nationalized 5G network would be a costly and counterproductive distraction from the policies we need to help the United States win the 5G future.
The Trump administration is considering nationalising the 5G network in what has been described as ‘an unprecedented federal takeover of a portion of the nation’s mobile network.’
The proposal is said to be in response to perceived cyber security threats from China …
Reddit is now offering the option of using two-factor authentication (2FA) to all users following successful trials with moderators and beta-testers …
Alongside macOS High Sierra 10.13.3, released today, Apple has also issued Security Update 2018-001 for macOS Sierra and macOS El Capitan.
Apple’s top investigator Lee Freedman has departed the company for a new role at Facebook. Freedman previously served as the Director of Worldwide Investigations at Apple.
Apple today has shared a revised version of its iOS Security Guide, dated January 2018. The new document, which comes in at 78 pages long includes new details on Apple Pay Cash, Face ID, and more…
There’s a newly discovered security hole in the current version of macOS High Sierra that allows anyone with access to your Mac to unlock your App Store System Preferences without your system password. The impact of this vulnerability doesn’t appear to be severe, but the security feature clearly isn’t working as intended.
The Wi-Fi Alliance has today announced the latest Wi-Fi security protocol, WPA3. Arriving this year, the new security standard will bring new capabilities for both personal and enterprise networks.
There’s no shortage of external drives around, both spinning metal and SSD, though higher-capacity portable SSDs are still in relatively short supply.
The iStorage diskAshur 2 combines an SSD in capacities of up to 4TB with hardware encryption and protection against physical tampering which it claims makes it the most secure drive in the world …
Concerns about the performance hit of mitigating the security flaw in Intel, AMD and ARM processors appear to have been dramatically overblown.
The initial report in The Register suggested ‘a ballpark figure of 5-30% slow-down,’ but Intel now says that the performance impact ‘should not be significant,’ with Apple and others agreeing that this is the case …
If you were wondering why the T2 chip in the new iMac Pro could force a DFU restore in extreme cases (like power failure during an update), that’s because the chip plays an important security role in the high-end machine …
Update: Apple later confirmed that all iOS devices were affected, and that the problem had been patched in iOS 11.2.
Following clarification that what was initially reported as an Intel chip bug also affects AMD processors and ARM-based chips, Intel’s CEO has said that ‘phones and everything’ will be impacted.
A security update by ARM suggests that a number of iPhones, iPads, iPods and Apple TVs may be affected …
A recent report from The New York Times highlights a controversial piece of software named Alphonso that tracks users’ TV habits. Alphonso is quietly built into many iOS and Android apps and also has a deal with Shazam which Apple is buying.
The developer who discovered a huge vulnerability in HomeKit, which allowed anyone unauthorized control of someone else’s devices, has explained how it worked. He has also expressed frustration at Apple’s failure to properly fix the bug until 9to5Mac intervened.
Khaos Tian handled his discovery responsibly, by reporting it to Apple on the day he discovered it, October 28. But he says the issue remained live throughout November, and the next iOS release actually made things worse …
SplashData has compiled its annual ranking of the worst passwords of the year, and reports that the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi appears to have inspired a new entry into the top 25: starwars …
The Department of Homeland Security found that almost all apps used by emergency professionals have vulnerabilities.
Of the 33 popular first responder apps tested, all but one was found to raise potential security and privacy concerns – and more than half had ‘critical flaws’ …
Last week, news of a Google-found iOS exploit caught the attention of the developer community and opened up the potential for the first iOS 11 jailbreak. Now, the kernel vulnerability has been publicly shared.
Google’s Project Zero, a team focused on discovering vulnerabilities in others companies’ software, appears set to release an exploit it recently found in iOS 11. While the vulnerability has been patched with iOS 11.2, the exploit may allow for the first publicly available jailbreak for iOS 11.
A HomeKit vulnerability in the current version of iOS 11.2 has been demonstrated to 9to5Mac that allows unauthorized control of accessories including smart locks and garage door openers. Our understanding is Apple has rolled out a server-side fix that now prevent unauthorized access from occurring while limiting some functionality, and an update to iOS 11.2 coming next week will restore that full functionality.
After months of beta testing, ProtonMail has unveiled official support for their encrypted mail service within email clients Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, and Mozilla Thunderbird. The support comes by way of a custom application that connects mail clients securely with a user’s ProtonMail account. Paying users can download ProtonMail Bridge today to get started.