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.
Remember back in April, when Steve Jobs replied to the overblown iPhone LocationGate mini-scandal by saying that it was Google who was tracking users, not Apple? As he often is, looks like Steve is right.
15% of all iPhone owners use one of just ten passwords on their lock screen, making it trivial for thieves with physical access to hack into their device with just some remedial trial-and-error. Is your passcode on the list?
As any fan-boy (myself included) will testify, Macs don’t get viruses – or rather, that’s what we used to say…
With the popularity of the Macintosh platform at the highest it’s ever been, we are no longer as immune to cyber attacks as we could once claim. Only last week the ill intentioned ‘Mac Defender’ virus raged chaos on Macs the world over. The question of Mac security has raised its head once again – and this time, we might actually need to pay attention…
Amid all the talk of malware scares for Mac users recently, here’s a useful guide to Mac security basics, from the NSA of all people.
Remember the days when Mac owners chuckled as Windows users swatted swarm after swarm of malware, confident in the old saw about ‘security through obscurity’? Well, one side-effect of Apple’s growing popularity is the Mac is becoming a more visible target for malicious hackers — and they’re already building Trojans aimed at your machine.
The Skype application for Mac has finally been updated to fix a critical vulnerability discovered last week. Version 5.1.0.935 fixes a major flaw that exposed your Mac to attacks from malicious contacts via instant messages, and meant another user could gain remote access to your system.
Interestingly, Skype actually fixed the flaw on April 14th, but didn’t bother pushing the update out to its users because there was no exploit active in the wild. Reassuring, isn’t it?
Apple has just released Safari 5.0.5 – an update for Safari on Mac OS X which offers unspecified bug fixes and security updates for Apple’s web browser application.
The release notes read:
This update is recommended for all Safari users and includes the latest security updates.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.
In addition to the Safari update Apple has also released a Mac OS X Security Update 2011-002. The release notes read:
Security Update 2011-002 is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.
All these nifty updates follow the release of iOS 4.3.2 earlier today.
Doubtless because creeps look indistinguishable from the pizza delivery guy on the iPhone’s tiny, standard-def screen, Logitech yesterday released an HD, iPad-version of their remote CCTV app, Logitech Alert. The app allows the user to monitor hi-def feeds, complete with “rich audio,” from an installed Logitech Alert CCTV camera system over the Internet.
While the app is free, the hardware starts at $300, and lets you observe a live feed from your iPad or iPhone; you can also view footage recorded onto your computer’s HD directly. An extra $80/year will net you the full Monte, allowing remote review (with an iDevice) of recorded footage from your computer’s HD.
The App’s page states “please use Wi-Fi for the best video and audio performance and experience,” which we’re assuming means the service will function over 3G, albeit most likely with hobbled performance.
Okay, this is sorta creepy — and if you aren’t aware of this little fact by now, you should be: Unless you’ve adjusted the settings to turn this feature off, every time you snap a photo with your iPhone it embeds data with your exact location in the image file. This data, called a geotag, can be easily read using easily available software by anyone who has access to your images online (btw, contrary to what the folks at NBC say, it’s not new technology; the ability to geotag photos has been around since at least the first iPhone to include GPS, the 3G).
You want your computer to be as secure as possible, right? Here’s one thing that newcomers to OS X might want to change pretty soon after getting their hands on their first Mac.
The OS X web browser, Safari, is a pretty good browser in almost every respect. But it has one default option that, personally speaking, I’ve never felt very comfortable about leaving switched on.
Half of all people using mobile devices for business transfer “sensitive” data over smartphones and tablets, according to a Harris Poll released Thursday. Results of the survey, compiled from the responses of more than 2300 Americans in late January 2011 indicate tablets such as Apple’s iPad may herald a post-PC society, with men and younger audiences more likely to trust the security of their mobile data.
FuzeBox, developers of collaboration solutions for desktop and mobile installations, commissioned the survey, which found that sensitive data transfers appear to be increasing in the mobile universe as professionals begin to adopt tablets in larger numbers, and that tablets, generally, increase the likelihood of transferring sensitive and private information.
Flying’s a frustrating experience, and I think all of us have been tempted at one point or another to take that frustration out on an obnoxious neighboring child. Perhaps he’s kicking your seat rhythmically and incessantly: not one of us would blame you for turning around, dumping your soda all over his crotch, standing up and then loudly shrieking, “Look! The baby wet himself! Big baby!” over and over again until he burst into tears and the rest of the airplane burst into applause. That’s not vindictiveness… it’s just justice.
We draw the line, however, at actually hitting kids. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what 68-year old Russell Miller did on a recent flight heading to Boise, Idaho, after a neighboring fifteen year old refused to turn off his iPhone (which seems to have been in Airplane mode, and we being used to play games and music, not make calls),
Here’s a secret: OS X has a password generator built-in, but many people will never even see it. Here’s how to make it easier to get to.
A few days ago, computer company Sophos released a free anti-virus application for OS X.
According to the experts at Sophos, your Mac is vulnerable to malware – it’s just that there isn’t very much of it around. Yet.
But as Macs and OS X get more popular, that might change. So Sophos thinks it’s time you protected your computer.
So what does Sophos Anti-Virus for OS X do, exactly?
Thinner at its thinnest point than even the edge of an axe blade, Apple’s new MacBook Airs could conceivably be used to split a skull or two, but according to the always-paranoid Transportation Security Administration, it’s still less dangerous than a small bottle of water: if you have to go through an airport security checkpoint with your 11-inch Air, the TSA has determined that it never once has to be taken out of your bag for closer inspection.
This just in: two security companies who make their money selling anti-malware software and/or consultancy services for the Mac platform say that two new Trojans are in the OS X wild. Luckily, though, you’re only really at risk if you’re not thinking too hard about what you’re doing on your machine.
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Watch out! A major new security hole in the iPhone software has just been discovered… a bug that allows anyone who picks up your phone to easily unlock it and access all of your phone data under iOS 4.1.
In case you want to try it yourself, here’s how you gain access to a locked iPhone through the security hole. When your iPhone 4 is locked with a passcode, tap the emergency call button, then enter three hash keys. Now tap the call button then immediately hit the lock button.
Do the above correctly and you’ll be rewarded by being dumped into the iPhone’s Phone app. From there, you can access the user’s favorites, contacts, dial pad,. recent calls, voice mails and even send SMS and email messages through the Address book.
It’s a pretty huge bug, and it seems to work on all iPhones running iOS 4.1. This is the sort of thing Apple will patch pretty quickly, but in the meantime, show extra dilligence and care in not leaving your locked iPhone lying around.