We told you yesterday that Path was secretly uploading your iPhone’s entire address book to its servers. Users of the inclusive social network voiced concern, and many decided to remove the app entirely until Path addresses the issue in an upcoming update.
It’s common practice for third-party apps to access and even store your contacts elsewhere. The problem with Path is that there was no indication that this activity was taking place. Path’s CEO stated that the app would make the activity opt-in when the next update is pushed out.
Thanks to a brand new jailbreak tweak, you’ll never have to worry about an app silently stealing your personal contacts data again.
In what can only be considered the very definition of irony, it has been discovered that Path 2 for iPhone secretly uploads and stores your entire address book to its servers. In case you didn’t know, Path is a hot iOS app that offers an exclusive, confined social network experience with a limited number of people. Unlike Facebook, Path only lets you accept 150 friends, indicating the intimate, safe environment that the app creators want users to feel at home in.
Developer Arun Thampi has uncovered that Path’s current iPhone app sends all of your contacts to its servers without notifying you. Oops.
Haliburton’s decision to choose iOS as its new mobile platform was made after “significant research” indicated that iOS “offered the best capabilities, controls and security for application development,” according to a leaked memo published by AppleInsider. These capabilities, collectively known as mobile device management (MDM) features offer a solid framework that can be used to apply a number of security policies like complex passcode requirements and that a device’s data be encrypted. MDM features also include the ability to IT departments to restrict access to iOS features (say installing apps or taking photos) and to monitor devices remotely. Of course, they also include the ability to remotely wipe a device if it’s lost or stolen.
One excellent facet of MDM in iOS 4 and iOS 5 is the ability to monitor a device. There are a wide range of states that management software, including the Profile Manager service in Lion Server, can collect about managed devices. This includes seeing what apps have been installed, ensuring OS updates are rolled out, and being able to tell if a device has been jailbroken.
While all this may sound a bit like big brother, if you’re a major energy company with operations in dozens of countries, security can be a major issue. Of course, I could say the same thing about a medical practice needing to maintain privacy compliance.
In what appears to be a watershed moment for Apple’s iOS, a leaked memo published at AppleInsider indicates the one of the world’s largest energy companies, Haliburton, will be transitioning to the iPhone as its exclusive smartphone of choice. That comes as a huge opportunity for Apple and iOS, and a huge blow to RIM.
According to the memo, the move will take place over the course of the next two years, but will be a complete transition from one platform to another with no plans to continues to support BlackBerry devices once the transition has been completed.
Ever get tired of the dialog that appears whenever you run or access a file you’ve downloaded? It can be an annoying halt to a workflow, especially if you already know not to trust files downloaded from questionable websites. Here’s how to turn off the warning.
Just got an iPad for the holidays? You lucky sod! You scored the crown jewel, the Big Tamale — the most marvelous gadget Apple has ever made. Yes, go ahead, pick up its slim aluminum frame and dive right in — Steve knew that’s what you wanted to do, and he designed the iPad so you could do just that.
We want to make sure you get everything right though, and we know there are a few key setup tricks along the way that new (and even some not-so-new) iPad users miss. So take a look at the short list of steps we’ve lined up here. They won’t take long, and they’ll make sure you get the best out of your iPad 2. Ready? Here we go.
OS X remembers and autocompletes passwords for you, but what if you forget them? And then what if your hard disk should suddenly shake itself apart and you have to start with a fresh installation? Here’s how to view any password that OS X stores for you, for applications and websites.
Remember those sneaky Smurfs? The in-app iPad purchases from the free game Smurf’s Village – and dozens of games like it – had parents seeing red as their toddlers accidentally ran up credit card bills.
The Kindle Fire also has a similar problem. Kids who play about with the 7-inch tablet are just a few swipes away from Amazon’s famous 1-Click Ordering, a feature that cannot be disabled on the device. (If you haven’t disabled in-app purchases on your iPad, here’s how.)
Reuters reports that Jason Rosenfeld’s 3-year-old daughter basically bought her own Christmas presents after seeing Dad’s shopping history on the tablet.
With Apple products showing no sign of getting any less popular, scammers are turning to the Apple ID over credit cards as a new way to fleece the unwary, said a security researcher today.
With security becoming an ever more serious issue, keeping your files safe is more important than ever before. Using an encrypted disk image is an easy way to safely store away files, while keeping them in one consolidated location. In this video, I’ll show you how to set up encrypted disk images.
Oh, wow. The engineers over at app developing firm Applidium say they’ve cracked Siri’s security protocol wide open. In fact, using their method, they say that any app and any device can now use Siri in theory. In reality, though? There are a few obstacles remaining.
A Colorado man believes Apple's Smart Cover infringes his patent for a portable computer case.
I’ve got a passcode lock on my iPad 2 so that it cannot be accessed by individuals who weren’t given permission to play with it. However, I also use an Apple Smart Cover, and thanks to a security flaw in the iPad’s iOS software, my passcode lock is now useless, because anyone can use my Smart Cover to gain entry to my iPad.
Since we posted about AirBeam’s free giveaway (it’s usually $4), developer Heiko Straulino has been busy improving his powerful iDevice surveillance app — and the newest update, released over the weekend, now let’s users stream and record audio as well, and adds an audio detection feature similar in function to motion detection.
How do you sell a security product to owners of devices that have no real security problem? You get into hand-holding business. That’s what it’s like for Lookout Mobile Security, a San Francisco, Calif. firm unveiling Tuesday the free Lookout for iPhone app. Kevin Mahaffey, co-Founder and CTO, Lookout Mobile Security, says his new app is all about positive reinforcement.
Of all the Apple stuff I’ve ever owned, only an iPod Mini and my beloved 3rd-Gen iPod and maybe a few stickers have ever been stolen; I consider myself lucky. If MacBook Pros come with slots to keep them locked down, why not the iPad? Griffin says “why not, indeed” with their new TechSafe Case ($80).
Like many other connected security cams on the market, Stem Innovation’s new iZon ($130) touts an easy, all-in-one package that lets you monitor your home from the web or an iDevice through its app — but with with apparently less frills, and at less expense.
Still enjoying Apple’s latest operating system on your Mac? With over 250 new features for $29.99, most of us couldn’t be happier with the upgrade… until we find out that our Macs are now at risk from a major vulnerability in OS X Lion.
The security experts at McAfee have published details of a new study that found during the second quarter of 2011, Android-powered devices faced a staggering 76% increase in malware than that of the first quarter — while Apple’s iOS devices remained unaffected by malicious exploits.
AirBeam is a clever little app that lets you output realtime video from one iDevice (camera-equipped, obviously) to another iDevice on the same local network. The app usually sells for $4, but it’s free today through Saturday.
Beware Android users, malware authors are picking Google’s platform as their first foray into mobile mayhem, security researchers say. Interestingly, there’s no mention of malware using Apple’s iOS.
OS X Lion is being hailed by many as the most secure operating system yet, not just from Apple, but in total. In particular, its FileVault encryption rewrite is being widely hailed as one of the most secure, low-overhead ways yet to keep your data safe.
But behind all the talk, there’s a huge security hole in OS X Lion that has been present at least since Snow Leopard. Any Mac with a Firewire port is vulnerable to it, and it’s so easy to exploit that any hacker with physical access to your computer can get your password within minutes.
A 25 year old digital artist who installed a program that secretly took photographs of the people using the Macs at two New York City Apple Stores has had his own computers confiscated by the United States Secret Service. He may face criminal charges.
On Tuesday, the FBI seized a number of servers from DigitalOne, a Swiss hosting company that leases blade servers from a Virginia datacenter. The FBI had a warrant for only one particular server, used by a fraudulent “scareware” distributor, but the FBI ended up taking a lot more servers than the one they were actually looking for, knocking several web sites offline in the process… and making off with nearly all of popular offline reading platform Instapaper‘s user data, some of its codebase and some password encryption keys in the process.
Earlier this week Microsoft released updates for the Mac versions of Office 2004, 2008, and 2011 that address some issues with security, stability, and reliability. Users of these versions of Microsoft Office are encouraged to update their software.
