10.13 High Sierra
“Is Apple getting sloppy?”
That was the headline of a BBC article published on Wednesday, November 29th, 2017, reporting the discovery of a major security issue in Apple’s MacOS High Sierra operating system. It seems that a bug within the OS made it possible for anyone to access a High Sierra computer by exploiting a simple login loophole.
Usually, when you login as a user on a Mac, you must enter your username and password. On machines running High Sierra, though, it was possible to enter “root” as the username, …
December 1, 2017 •
3 min read
Apple
When is your phone able to take a picture? Put that question to the average user and chances are they will say something about having the actual camera viewfinder on screen. Whether it’s from the default camera app, Instagram, or Facebook, we all expect that the camera isn’t at work when we can’t see ourselves on the screen. As one Google researcher, Felix Krause, recently uncovered, however, that is not actually the case. In fact, when users grant permissions to apps for the use of the camera, it turns …
November 3, 2017 •
2 min read
Apple
The latest round of Apple security updates arrived on Halloween, delivering everything from iOS 11.1 to updates that affect macOS, watchOS, and more. As is often the case with large patch days, these updates address a wide variety of security flaws affecting different parts of the systems in question. From WebKit vulnerabilities to memory handling issues on the Apple Watch and in macOS, Apple squashed plenty of bugs with this batch of updates. Perhaps one of the most important issues addressed in this round of updates, however, is Apple’s …
October 31, 2017 •
2 min read
Apple
A recent rash of ransomware attacks has left some Apple users locked out of their Mac computers and iOS devices. The nature of the attacks led some users to wonder if Apple itself had suffered some kind of hack. The good news is that the situation does not appear to be an Apple hack. The bad news is that hackers have somehow managed to get their hands-on login credentials for some users.
Hackers are attacking users by logging into their iCloud accounts and enabling the “Find My iPhone” function. …
October 27, 2017 •
3 min read
Apple
As in previous years, Apple’s 2017 September keynote brought device announcements, new feature introductions, and other headline-worthy events. What’s different this year, though, is that it also prompted the United States Senate to contact Apple about security and privacy concerns.
Those concerns surrounded the announcement of Apple’s revolutionary iPhone X, the first iPhone ever to ditch the commonplace home button. Specifically, the Senate had questions about the new iPhone’s Face ID feature, which will replace Touch ID as the primary way to unlock the iPhone.
The letter, …
October 26, 2017 •
3 min read
Apple
Who wants information about you? Digital security practices revolve in large part around restricting your data based on the answer to that question. We try to protect our systems so that only those with authorization can access sensitive personal information of all kinds. Most frequently, hackers are the ones we must worry about looking to learn something about us, whether it’s a password or a credit card number. However, it’s important to consider that requests from the government for user information occur on a frequent basis, and these can …
October 17, 2017 •
2 min read
Apple
September 19, 2017, marked the arrival of iOS 11, just in time for the release of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. The big annual update of Apple’s mobile operating system added a few new features into the mix for users, from a brand new Control Center to a keyboard made for one-handed texting.
However, amidst the new features, it turns out that iOS 11 is also an important security update. The updated operating system includes important patches for a variety of iOS vulnerabilities. Apple also patched bugs …
September 25, 2017 •
3 min read
Apple
One of Apple’s most famous marketing campaigns revolved around the catchphrase “There’s an app for that”—to the point that Apple eventually had the slogan trademarked. However, for users living in China, that statement is no longer true. According to a recent report from CNBC, Apple has removed most of the VPN apps from its Chinese App Store.
The removals weren’t random: China made unauthorized connections—including those made possible by virtual private networks—illegal in January of this year. VPNs allow users to access restricted parts of the Internet and surf …
August 14, 2017 •
3 min read
Apple
Every time a new version of Apple’s operating system arrives, every tech-focused publication on the Internet does a deep dive on the new key features. Occasionally, though, cool bells and whistles go overlooked. Such is the case with the macOS Keychain Access application, which, in addition to storing passwords and account information, can also be used to store and secure sensitive data.
Keychain Access gives users the option to store what it calls “Secure Notes,” alongside passwords and other valuable data. Say you need to store something like a …
August 11, 2017 •
3 min read
Apple
Remember jailbreaking? From the first iPhone, it has been an integral part of the community around the device and even something which has pushed its development forward. Initially, just a way to unlock the phone and release it from the “jail” of an exclusive carrier contract, jailbreaking quickly grew into more. Games made their first appearance on iOS via jailbreaking, and for several years the only way to install custom wallpapers or ringtones on an iPhone was with a jailbreak. Many of the early iterations of the phone were …
August 3, 2017 •
3 min read
Apple
Among a slew of other announcements at Apple’s WWDC in June this year was the news that iPhone and iPad users would finally see the release of iOS 11 later this year. After the recent release of iOS 10.3.3 to users and the release of the latest iOS 11 beta to developers, it seems like the upgrade is not too far from its official release, currently expected sometime in September. What does Apple have in store for users, and what kinds of security improvements might we be able to …
August 1, 2017 •
2 min read
Apple
Apple pushed a new round of security updates to many of its products on July 19, including macOS and iOS. While both updates provide important security updates, the iOS update is especially critical. In version 10.3.3, Apple fixed a critical vulnerability affecting the device’s operations surrounding wireless networks. How does it work and what is the threat?
Inside each iPhone, from the iPhone 5 to the current iPhone 7, a dedicated chip by Broadcom powers the device’s Wi-Fi functionality. These chips handle important tasks to provide users with quick …
July 22, 2017 •
2 min read